As your developers are building your online platform or mobile app, you might acquire something called “technical debt”. There’s a chance that you’ll never be told about it – and you won’t even know what it is, so I wanted to write this article to make you aware of its existence. What is technical debt?There is no single way to … Read More
What can you do to reduce the cost of building an online platform or mobile app?
In my last article, I looked at some of the major things that can affect the cost of building an online platform or mobile app. This article is going to look at some of the ways you can reduce your initial costs, without severely compromising your idea and the quality of the final product. The most effective way to reduce … Read More
How much does it cost to build an online platform or mobile app?
Cost is a big factor with any investment, and software development is no different. So, how much does it cost to build an online platform or mobile app? The answer – it depends. You might be able to get away with $10,000 or it might cost you $200,000+. Yes, an infuriating and vague response, but unfortunately, very true. Think along … Read More
Why should you build a prototype?
Prototyping is a common approach for developing a mock or sample product to help test concepts before building out the real thing. It’s used in all different industries and can come in all shapes and forms. In this article, I’ll look at what a prototype looks like for online platforms and apps, and how it can help you build a … Read More
What are acceptance criteria?
Acceptance criteria define what the system needs to be able to do in order to be considered ‘complete’ from a software development point of view. In essence, they’re a set of tests that you conduct to confirm that your platform or app does what you want it to. In this article, I’ll look at what they look like and how … Read More
What does CRUD mean?
When you have an idea for a platform or app, you might start paying closer attention to ones you use today, or new ones that do similar things to what you want to do. What you might notice is that there are some common things that you do in each of them. If you’ve added something, viewed a list of … Read More
What’s a process flow (business process flow or workflow) diagram?
A process flow (business flow or workflow) diagram maps out everything that’s required to get from point A to point B. It shows the steps in a process, the users involved, inputs, outputs and decisions. As a result, it’s a very powerful tool to illustrate what you want your online platform or app to do. In this article, I’ll explain … Read More
Why you need to focus on “what” not “how” (when defining your product)
In order to turn your online platform or app idea into a living and breathing thing, you need to define your product. This means that you have to define “what” your product will do. The key word here is “what”. There’s a common pitfall when defining your product to focus on “how” you want you product to work – rather than “what” … Read More
5 Foundations for non-tech people with platform or app ideas
Software technology projects can be tough at the best of times, but what happens when you have an idea for an online platform or app, and you’ve never done anything like it before? In this article, I’ll explore some of the ways that non-technical people can get the foundations to set themselves up for success. As someone that’s been in the industry … Read More
Why words like ‘easy’ and ‘quickly’ don’t belong in requirements
So, you’ve got an idea for website or mobile app that you’re really excited about, and you’re ready to define what it should do. The first thing that pops into your mind might be something like, “the app should be easy to use”. Not an unreasonable thought. However, ease of use is how you market your platform or app – … Read More