I'm thinking about hiring an app developer. How do I get started?
What is the process for developing an app?
Do you have an app idea but don’t know where to start? Nitid.co builds apps for non-technical organizations—most of our clients are experts in another field and need someone to handle the technology. This article explains what collaboration looks like.
We’ll use remodelling your kitchen as an analogy: you don’t need plumbing or electrical knowledge to get a new kitchen, but you do need to discuss design options, prioritize your budget, and talk with your contractor often about schedules and surprises. We are your guide, explaining trade-offs in plain language and ensuring the final product meets your goals.
Nitid generally follows the “Agile Method” for developing software. Here are the steps:
- Know the problem you’re solving
- Define Priorities, Budget
- Development Cycle (a few weeks):
- a. Specifications and Estimates
- b. UX and Visual Design
- c. Code
- d. Test and Deploy
Let’s go through each step below.
1) Know the Problem You’re Solving
Although it sounds obvious, this first step can be tricky. If your app is to automate an existing manual process, you might know the problem intimately. But if your app is a new business or social impact idea, you might be exploring and experimenting with what works. Fortunately, Agile is designed to allow changing your mind. Since each development cycle delivers a complete running app, you can change direction at each cycle. This provides the “agility” for exploration and experimentation. If you need help with this step, Nitid can help uncover needs with market and UX research.
2) Define Priorities, and Budget
Just as kitchen remodel budgets balloon from small changes (e.g., a new induction range requiring an electrical panel upgrade and new wirings), app budgets can too. Budgets are controlled by making progress visible and including priority and cost estimates into the regular work of each development cycle.
3) “The Development Cycle”
A key difference between apps and kitchen: a kitchen remodel is one big project—your kitchen is unusable until it’s done. Software used to be built this way too (30+ years ago), taking companies months or years to launch a product. This problem is addressed by releasing software bit by bit, delivering every few weeks. By delivering so often, the client can see the progress and knows early if the project is on target.
3a) Specifications and Estimates
Specifications are short—generally a paragraph or two defining the user’s journey and desired outcome. The rest is left to shared understanding through conversation. This proves more efficient than written documents that are only used once. Here is an example from our Bedsider.org project, a website about birth control:
As a Bedsider editor, I want to publish accurate numbers for how effective birth control methods are so my users are well informed. Editors can log in, choose birth control methods from a list, and edit their “efficacy” values. Shortly after, users can see the new values on my website.
We call these “user stories”—short narratives emphasizing the people involved and their journey through your app. They help designers and engineers visualize what to build, but also to focus on the user and the business goal. Stories can be defined by the client or by Nitid, usually with input from both sides.
3b) UX and Visual Design
Visual designs turn ideas into something you can see and react to. A good design team combines UX (user flow, interactions, how content is organized) and visual design (aesthetics, branding, layout) which are related but distinct skills.
3c) Code
With requirements and design in hand, engineers turn them into a working product, giving regular updates and asking for clarification if needed.
3d) Test and Deploy
Before releasing to your users, set aside time to verify the app works as expected—you and your staff know your needs better than anyone. Your development team will help you create a testing plan, but having a detail-oriented person on your side test each version ensures nothing slips through.
At the end of each development cycle, we review progress, gather feedback, and plan the next one.
Conclusion
Building an app can be daunting, but our team is here to guide you. We turn your ideas into a user-friendly, reliable product, making sure you understand the key decisions and benefits along the way.
We at Nitid.co hope you will consider us to bring your app vision to life. Our friendly engineers bring decades of experience across many technologies building delightful custom apps. But our most important focus is on people.