The big idea

You just discovered that you have a vision of this big app that is not made up yet. You can figure out what is required. All of it. Some of it you could do by yourself but maybe you are not as good in other areas like marketing, coding, attracting and hiring talent, and the likes. But you have it! This is all that matters. And you are just one step away from realizing your dream. When it comes to proving the usefulness of your idea, things become a little bit tough. The chance to prove your point on an important platform, for instance in a TedX event, or even before your potential investors make it easier to relax and prepare. Grab every opportunity. Again, it doesn’t really matter who buys into your project. You are better off anyway without the big idea bugging your mind.

The first test should not be on the app but rather on the suitability of the design. Don’t even go for the code at this stage. Make it simple. Complicated revenue models do not count yet, not even to your business partners.

The code

The code should be in a high-level language and should compile without bugs. Development efforts should go towards making improvements to your design as opposed to fixing buggy imported code bases. Ensure your development team has standards for quality and site reliability or dev-ops. The code should also be easy to extend and reuse. Good communication among your team members in development counts towards the final quality of your code. Always keep that in mind.

The first user

Make use of an honest friend or former colleague to gather valuable feedback before shipping out the final product. Expect constructive criticism as well. Don’t just go for the “nice” encouraging sentiments. Look out for the user behavior as a hint. Some of the most valuable feedback comes from carefully observing user actions while interacting with your project over time.

Expose as many feedback channels as possible. Don’t just do social media. Allow dedicated emails for feedback. You could use feedback@your-app.your-domain as an example. Phone calls and texts where applicable.

Wrapping up

Building an app from scratch requires lots of courage, prospects engagement, and collaborative efforts. Above all, don’t forget to accept failure as a learning process. When confronted with failure, take heart and note your lessons as a stepping stone for your next improvement.

About the author:

Dennis Murage is a Software Developer, tech enthusiast, and UI/UX Researcher. muragemd@gmail.com