Great Products Consulting

Tag: analyse

  • What can you do to reduce the cost of building an online platform or mobile app?

    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 costs is to look at the following:

    1. Build less
    2. Reduce complexity
    3. Build for fewer devices

    1. Build Less

    It might sound obvious, but it’s a very difficult thing to do. How do you do decide what to cut out and what to keep? Often everything will seem important, and you’ll have to make some though choices. The reality is – research has shown that 80% of functionality for custom-built applications isn’t used, so as it turns out, there might be some features and functions that you don’t need for your launch.

    There’s an important thing to note here. Building less doesn’t mean that you never build the rest of the things that you want. What it does mean is you pick the things that your potential customers and users really want. Once they start paying you, you can afford to build more. Building less has other advantages around minimising the riskiness of your project.

    2. Reduce Complexity

    This one is probably a difficult if you don’t have any technical knowledge. How are you going to know if something is complex or not? Where building less is about the number of features and functions, reducing complexity is about what goes into each feature and function. It includes taking out steps in a process, and minimising the choices and scenarios that are possible. Generally, it’s about getting the platform or app to do less in the way of processing and calculating.  By reducing complexity, there are fewer places where things can go wrong.  When things go wrong, you have to pay more money to fix them.

    3. Build for fewer devices

    As I mentioned in my previous article, the more devices you build for, the more it costs. While responsive design deals with some of the differences in screen sizes, there will be cases where there just might not be enough space on a mobile phone screen. This means that you may have to adjust your design for mobile devices, and that means more designing, more coding, and more testing. With tablets and phones, and even laptops, your developers will also have to consider interactions with a mouse versus a touch screen.

    Why should you look to keep your costs low?

    No one wants to spend more money than they need to. However, people often go to a developer with a laundry list of things to do, and then get surprised by the amount they’re quoted.

    You might find that to reduce your costs, you may only need to do some of the things above.  By spending less money upfront, you can use the extra dollars in valuable updates after your product has launched.

    The more compelling reason for reducing your costs is actually around the uncertainty of making the money back. The more money you spend, the more you have to sell to make your money back, and to ultimately become profitable.

    Even if your most pessimistic business plans show you making money, it’s worth going through this exercise to see where you can cut the fat.  This can only mean more money in your pocket, so what have you go to lose?

    Are you ready to turn your good idea into a great product?
    My idea to launch checklist is your plain-English guide to getting there.
    It’s available now for only $24.
  • How much does it cost to build an online platform or mobile app?

    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 the lines of “how long is a piece string?” Software development projects can be small or they can be big. This, of course, affects the cost.

    Factors that can affect cost

    There are many things that can affect the cost of software development. Here are some main ones:

    1. What features and functionality you want (and how complicated it is)
    2. Who will build it
    3. How it will be built
    4. What devices need to be supported

    Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

    1. What features and functionality you want (and how complicated it is)

    There is a direct correlation between how much you want to build and the cost. An app with 50 functions is going to cost more than an app with 10. It just takes longer to build more, than to build less.

    The next part of this relates to how complicated the functionality is. We might both define a product with 10 functions, but they may differ in complexity. Mine might have lots of different rules, require lots of information to be captured and stored, and need lots of calculations to be completed. Yours may just be displaying different types of content that has been loaded into the system. Mine will probably cost more to build.

    2. Who will build it

    It’s no secret that going offshore will get you a lower daily rate than staying onshore. You’re probably looking at a difference of $50-$75 per hour. This can add up over a large project. However, the quality may not be there.

    There is also a difference between using a freelancer versus an agency. Agencies have a lot more overheads to cover, which makes them more expensive, but they usually have better coverage of the end-to-end process, because they have staff to address all of the skill sets needed to build software.

    Another element is the experience of the developer. As expected, if you use someone with lots of experience, it’s going to cost a lot more than if you have an inexperienced one. The balancing act between cost and experience is a tough one. Depending on your budget, it may be worth the risk to give someone less experienced a chance. However, if you don’t have a lot of time to spend on the project, then you’ll need someone more experienced.

    3. How it will be built

    If you’re building a mobile app, then the question of native vs hybrid will often be raised. Native apps are built individually for each phone operating system (e.g. iOS vs Android), and in the language of those operating systems. On the other hand, a hybrid app will be built once, and then converted into apps for different operating systems. The former is much more expensive because you have to build the app multiple times, but it allows you to have a product that is made specifically for that operating system. Hybrid apps work well too – and are often a good starting point – but you have to compromise because you’re building a “one-size-fits-all” product.

    On the web side, there are lots of ways to build a platform. You can use existing platforms like Wordpress to build very functional and experience-rich applications. Or you can build from scratch. This approach can have varying costs too depending on what you want.  If you can leverage an existing platform, it’s probably going to be cheaper than building from scratch. However, down the line, you might have to replace it with something else that allows you to do all the things that you might want to do.

    4.What devices need to be supported

    The number of devices that you want to run your product on will also affect the cost. If you’re only looking at a platform that someone will use on a laptop or desktop, that’s a different proposition to having it work on all device types. Just dealing with multiple screen types adds lots of overheads. Think about the different sizes of mobile screens and you’ll start getting an idea of the effort involved. Even if your product is built to be responsive, you still have to test it on all of these devices to make sure it works as expected. If you want to support touch screens, then there’s even more stuff to design, build and test. A lot more work has to go into making your product work on multiple devices, than making it work on one.

    How much will your project cost?

    Hopefully, you’ve now got a better feel of some of the major things that affect the cost of a software project. There isn’t a standard number that someone can give you.  If you want to know how much you need to budget for, then you really need to talk to a few developers about your specific idea. They should be able to give you can indication of the cost. You also need to find out how different parts of your idea will affect the cost, and where you might be able to simplify things or reduce what you build. This might affect the viability of your idea.

    At the end of the day, you need to know what it’s going to cost to make your idea a reality. This also includes all of the other costs that you’ll incur to launch your product. To give yourself the best chance at success, make sure your budget can cover it all.

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  • Common mistakes when determining whether you will make money

    Common mistakes when determining whether you will make money

    In my last article, I talked about how to figure out if you’ll make money from your online platform or app. This article looks at some common mistakes that people make when they’re assessing their idea.

    Given that the simple equation for making money is that revenue (number of sales x price) is greater than your cost, then there are three main areas where people get it wrong:

    1. Overestimating demand
    2. Setting the wrong price
    3. Underestimating cost

    Let’s look at each of these in more detail.

    1. Overestimating demand

    When looking at your financials, it’s easy to overestimate the number of people you think will buy your product. Even if you account for the time it takes to ramp up the number of users you’ll get, if you start with the wrong number, you’ll be behind from the beginning.

    In product management, we’ve got a lifecycle diagram that illustrates sales over the life of a product. Guess what it looks like at the beginning…

    That’s right. At the beginning of most new products, sales are tiny compared to later on in their lives.

    2. Setting the wrong price

    Pricing is such a complex thing. There are many ways to charge people for your products and services. Pricing models vary to include options like monthly subscriptions, tiered pricing, or freemium – but what’s the right one? And then there’s the price itself. If the numbers are too low, you may not cover your costs. Too high and no one buys from you. That’s the challenge of pricing.

    When you’re thinking about whether your platform or app will make money, you may pick a price that is too high or too low. Couple this with a demand estimate that is too high, and you won’t be able to pay the bills!

    3. Underestimating costs

    This is a big one when it comes to platforms and apps. First, your development costs are probably going to be higher than you think. Second, you’ve probably underestimated the ongoing costs.

    Unlike most physical goods, software platforms and apps have ongoing operating and running costs. You have to pay for hosting, someone to monitor your platform, fix problems, and if you’ve got a mobile app, you’re going to be updating it every time there’s a new Apple or Android operating system update. Then, there’s the user expectation that you’re constantly improving your platform and rolling out new features. All of this costs money – cash to be exact, as that’s usually what your vendor prefers.

    What can you do?

    The main problem here is that forecasting and financial planning is not an exact science. If it were, everyone would be making money.

    The challenge, then, is to reduce the risk of you being wrong. Along the lines of lean methodologies, you want to research and test all of your numbers. By testing the assumptions that you’ve made about your numbers, you can increase your chances of making money. It’s a critical part of product development. Making a guess – even a fairly educated one is not enough.  Do yourself a favour – spend the time to figure it out.

    Are you ready to turn your good idea into a great product?
    My idea to launch checklist is your plain-English guide to getting there.
    It’s available now for only $24.
  • Will your platform or app make money?

    Will your platform or app make money?

    The idea of building a platform or app and having this steady stream of passive income is very attractive prospect. Unfortunately, the question of how to make money from an app is not so clear cut.

    There are a lot of factors that affect success, but often the issue is that the numbers weren’t right in the first place. It seems obvious, but it happens in business – all of the time.

    In the simplest of terms (and sometimes that’s all it takes), your financial equation is going to look at two key components – revenue and costs. In order to operate and hopefully make any money, revenue (or cash in) has to exceed costs (or cash out). I’ve put it this way, because there are many startups that don’t make money until they sell their business (and when that happens, they can make a lot of money).  However, in the meantime, they still need cash to pay the bills on an ongoing basis.

    A simple way to gauge your financial success

    Success is a relative term and a very personal one, so your definition will depends on the goals you have of a platform or app. If you want to replace your income, then that’s a different measure than supplementing your income. It will also affect your approach to building your product.

    So, a very simple gauge as to whether you can make money is:

    1. Decide how much you want to make a year.
    2. Decide how much you can charge for your platform, and an average revenue amount per customer (e.g. what’s your price?)
    3. Divide how much you want to make by your average revenue per customer.

    This gives you the number of customers you need a year to reach your target. Does this number sound reasonable? If not, you’ll need to play around with the numbers to see if you can get the required price and number of customers to more manageable amounts.  It may not be possible. In this case, your idea won’t make you the money that you’re looking for.

    Now you have to think about the costs.

    If you think you can make enough money from your platform or app, the next part of the equation is your costs.  This will include the initial development costs, but you’ll also need to include the ongoing costs of managing and enhancing your product. On top of that, you have the overheads of running a business – insurance, marketing, advertising, legal, accounting, payment providers, banking, etc. It can all add up and eat into your hard earned revenue.

    The next step is to take your revenue every year and deduct the costs. If the number isn’t positive, then you won’t make money that year. As simple as that.

    You’ll then have to go back and either adjust your revenue numbers to cover all of these costs, or you’ll need to cut back on your costs, so that you can still make money.

    But when will you start making money?

    The thing about the above revenue number is that it’s your ideal number. The reality is that you’ll need to ramp up to that number – and it will take longer than you think. This means that you won’t be making all of that money on Day 1.  The important part of this means you need to have enough money to cover your ongoing costs. Don’t spend all of your money on the upfront development!

    An important cashflow indicator is called a ‘payback period’. This is how long it takes to pay back your original investment. Only then do you really start making money (after taking out your ongoing costs). Most software development projects in corporate land look for a payback period of about 18 months to 2 years. As a small business relying on your own money, this will probably be longer, as you may not have access to the same resources you need to scale quickly.

    What next?

    The above is a very simple view of figuring out if you can make money, but it will give you a quick indication of whether the numbers can stack up. For a more detailed view, talk to an accountant or financial advisor where you can get advice on a model to suit your specific business.

    The bottom line is that it’s not so easy to make money as you might think. Even the big startups don’t actually make money yet, and their worth is based on their valuation as a business. However, if you’re a small business owner looking to enhance your income in the short to medium term, you do have to have a good handle on the numbers before you start.  Otherwise, you’ll find yourself running out of money before you can figure out if your platform or app can be successful.

    Are you ready to turn your good idea into a great product?
    My idea to launch checklist is your plain-English guide to getting there.
    It’s available now for only $24.
  • Why should you build a prototype?

    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 better product.

    What is a prototype?

    A prototype is anything that represents your future product to a user. Traditionally, in manufacturing, this might have been a sample of a piece of clothing or something cobbled together to show how the product might work.

    Today, when it comes to platforms and apps, the approach is the same. You want to build something that represents your future product without actually building the whole thingdf.

    As software isn’t a physical product that you can create a sample of, the most popular way to prototype is to create something called a clickable prototype.

    What is a clickable prototype?

    A clickable prototype is a collection of medium or high-fidelity wireframes that represent what a customer might need to do to complete a task. These wireframes are put into a computer, where you add some ‘buttons’ and ‘links’ that allow people to navigate through your prototype.

    There are prototyping applications you can use, such as InVision, Balsamiq, and Acrobat XD, that provide a set of tools to help you build and get feedback on your prototype. You can also use something like PowerPoint or Keynote. Even some hand drawn pictures can work as well.  The video below gives you an example of what a prototype looks like.

    The main idea is that people have something to see and ‘hold’ in order to better understand what you want to do.

    So, when do you do all of this?!

    There are two main areas where you can use prototypes:

    1. Validate an idea
    2. Test your design

    1. Validate an idea

    If you find your idea is hard to explain to potential customers and users, then a prototype is a one way to illustrate what your platform or app will do. By building a prototype, you can get feedback on your idea, and get input into what you need to include in your product. You might find some features are more important than others, which might change the way you prioritise your app’s development.

    2. Test your design

    Prototypes are also good at testing your product’s user experience. The prototype represents how your users will navigate through your system. You want to find out which parts are easy to use, and which aren’t. By getting people to play with your prototype, you can identify how well the solution addresses their problems based on its usability.

    Why would you prototype?

    If used correctly, prototyping will give you a more informed idea of what you should be building, so that you can get people to use it. Prototyping will also allow you to build a better product, so that the people using it will keep using it.

    Ultimately, both of these things reduce the risk of you spending money unnecessarily. If you can’t build the prototype yourself, it will cost you some money. However, spending a small amount of money to discover you’re building the wrong thing is way better than spending months, and a lot more money building something that isn’t what you need.

    Are you ready to turn your good idea into a great product?
    My idea to launch checklist is your plain-English guide to getting there.
    It’s available now for only $24.
  • Does your platform or app solve a problem?

    Does your platform or app solve a problem?

    Ultimately, a product or service exists to solve a problem, or it addresses a need or goal of the customer or user. Without that fundamental piece, a platform or app is doomed to failure. Understanding this is an important part of validating your idea.  This article looks at what to consider, and why it’s important to understand the problem your solving when you want to build a product.

    So, what’s the problem, need or goal?

    At the end of the day, you don’t want to spend your time and effort building something that isn’t helpful to people in some way. Whether it’s around productivity or maybe just entertainment, your platform or app has to have some purpose for people to use it.

    Generally, we talk about solving problems with products. That’s because people are driven to look for products or solutions because they’re having trouble with something. Some problems are more trivial (“I’m bored, let’s find a game to play” or “I’m hungry”) and some things aren’t (“How do I do my taxes?” or “What insurance should I buy?”). Bottom line – if there’s no problem, you’ll find it very difficult to get people to use your platform or app.

    It’s not always doom and gloom, and that’s why I like talking about needs and goals too. To me, needs and goals are a variation of a problem, but with a positive intention – if you’re looking to meet a need (“I want to learn a new skill”) or if you want to achieve a goal (“I want to book a holiday in Perth”), then you’re equally motivated to find a solution.

    Regardless, in order for it to be successful, your platform or app needs to do something useful for someone.

    Is that problem painful enough for people to seek a solution?

    Your platform or app is the solution to a person’s problem, need or goal. By using your product, your clients and customers will achieve the outcome that they’re looking for. But how painful is the problem? Is it a little itch or a full-body rash?!

    If you think about the buying process, there are generally a few steps that people go through before pulling out their wallets and purses. This means that you want to make sure that the problem you’re solving is painful enough for people to go looking for a solution. If I have a hole in my sock, do I look for a hole-fixing service or do I just buy new socks?  Conversely, if you’re talking about needs and goals, then you’re thinking about how important this is to someone.

    If you’re product is free or low cost, then it’s less of an issue as it’s low-risk for an individual to try your service or download your app. People will use it as an option for evaluating different alternatives. The challenge then falls into my next point.

    Are there enough people with the problem? And how often do people have this problem?

    I’ve combined these two questions together because they speak to how many people you need to use your platform or app. You’ve found people with problems, and they’re painful enough to look for a solution. But are there enough of them?

    Unless you’ve got a high-ticket price, volume is key to any platform or app. There are a lot of overheads to cover with a platform or app. You’re looking at 10-20% of your initial development costs to keep your systems running every year. This means there needs to be enough people with the problem to use your product, so you can pay your bills. This is a really important point. Be realistic about the number of people that you can get to sign up to your platform or app when doing your financial analysis.  This is usually where a business falls over.

    Another element of the volume equation is how often will people use your product. Problems are not all equal in importance. Some problems can be solved as a one-off (e.g. buying a present) and some happen over and over again (e.g. ordering takeaway). You can solve a problem in a minute, while others take years. If you have a subscription or membership product, then you want problems that take a while to solve. For smaller problems, you want people to keep coming back every time they encounter the problem. While it’s important to have a large number of users for your platform or app, you also need them to use it again and again.

    Why should I care?

    If you don’t first understand the problem, need or goal, then it’s no point building a solution. No one will use it. “That would be cool” is generally not a good reason for building a platform or app.

    I’d also encourage you to explore the problem. This involves thinking about how painful it is. You want to understand why people might have the problem, and what motivates them to want to solve it. If the problem you’ve identified isn’t a big deal for them, then you’ll have a tough time convincing them that you have a solution for them. This research will also help you to build a better product by making sure you address the pain.

    Finally, think about how many people this problem affects. How many of them you could realistically get to use your platform or app, and how often can you get them to use it. This is critical to the long-term success of your product. Your product may be great at what it does, but without volume and consistent use, you’ll struggle to keep it going.

    At the end of the day, products are created to solve problems, so take some time to think about the one that you want to address in order to have a successful platform or app.

    If you want to turn your good idea into a great product, then my Idea to Launch Checklist is your plain-English guide to getting there. It’s available now for only $24.

  • What is a Wireframe?

    What is a Wireframe?

    A wireframe is a drawing of a screen as it might appear on a website, an online platform or a mobile app. Wireframes are very powerful tools for describing what you want to build, and for illustrating your idea. In this article, I’ll explain the different types of wireframes and how you can use them to create your platform or app.

    On the web and on mobile apps, screen design plays a key role in how your customer and users interact with your product. These designs are usually created by user experience (UX) designers; often with the input of graphic designers (some user experience designers have visual design skills as well).

    Wireframes in Product and Software Development

    Traditionally, screens would have been envisaged in the “design” phase of the development process. Developers and designers would sit together to determine how a user will move through the application, and what the screens should look like.  However, screens can play a vital role in explaining what a product should do. As a result, screen designs are edging their way into earlier phases of the software and product development processes.

    As you’re validating your idea during the “analyse” phase of product development, wireframes can used to test your product idea. You show the screens to potential customers so they can understand what you’re trying to do and what the product might look like. The screens can even be linked together so people can ‘navigate’ through a particular feature. The feedback is invaluable in terms of seeing how people interact with your idea.  You can also get their reaction to your solution and whether it solves their problem.

    In terms of defining your product (the “define” phase of product development and the “requirements” phase of software development), wireframes are a great way to illustrate to developers what you want your product to do. In some cases, people get UX designers involved here to get some detailed wireframes outlined before starting development. However, be aware that there’s often a strong dependency between what the screen looks like versus how things work behind the scenes. In some cases, the designed screens may have some technical constraints, so you might have to re-do some of the screens at a later date.

    Types of Wireframes

    Wireframes come in different levels of detail and each one of them has different uses when creating your product:

    1. Low-fidelity wireframes

    These wireframes are hand-drawn and very high-level. They show the overall placement of content on the screen using boxes to represent areas of content, and lines to represent text. These are often used to map out what screens are required, the flow of the screens and the high-level content (e.g. picture, text, button, menu bar, etc). The idea is that you don’t want to spend too much on the detail. You’ll use these “lo-fi” wireframes in the “analyse” and “define” phases as you’re just illustrating concepts.

    2. Medium-fidelity wireframes

    Lo-fi wireframes are converted into computerised images with software tools like Sketch or Balsamiq or even basic drawing tools like PowerPoint. The high-level content is replaced with additional details – such as what type of picture will be displayed, what content will be included (e.g. contact information, user registration), etc.

    3. High-fidelity wireframes

    High-fidelity (“hi-fi”) wireframes often look like graphical representations of the actual screens. User experience designers will provide actual fields on a form (e.g. field labels, field types – calendar, drop downs, radio buttons, etc), general spacing and navigation. Graphical or visual designers will fill in the pictures, colours, font types, logos, styling etc. Items on the screen are annotated to include design and development notes (e.g. click here to go to the home page).

    The diagram below shows the level of detail in different types of wireframes:

    In many cases, people don’t bother with hand-drawing screens, go straight to the computer, and call them lo-fi wireframes. Some people will skip that step altogether, and go straight to hi-fi wireframes. It doesn’t really matter what you do – it’s more a matter of how much time and money you want to spend on it. It’s much quicker to hand-draw something rather than to put it on a computer. If you end up with multiple iterations of your screens or end up with new screens altogether, you spend less time and money doing this when you’re drawing boxes and lines versus very detailed screens.

    It’s important to remember that during “analyse” and “define/requirements” activities, wireframes should be focused on “what” rather than “how”. You don’t want to restrict your developers by telling them “how” you want something done.  Wireframes should be used to show them “what” people should be able to do, and the outcomes or benefits they expect from using your product.

    Why should you care?

    Depending on your budget and skills, you need to determine whether you want to create your wireframes or get someone to do it for you. You may want to draw low- or even medium- fidelity wireframes, and then pass them on to a designer. Alternatively, you may decide that your strengths lie elsewhere, and you hire a designer to do the wireframes from scratch. If it’s the latter, then you’ll still need to provide some guidelines to your designers, and this can be done in your product definition.  This instructs the designer on what the product should do.

    Either way, knowing how to draw wireframes, and understanding the different levels of detail are important skills to have. Pictures are a very powerful communication tool, and can be used throughout the development process to show developers what you want them to do.

    Are you ready to turn your good idea into a great product?
    My idea to launch checklist is your plain-English guide to getting there.
    It’s available now for only $24.
  • I have an idea for an app – what happens next? (idea validation)

    I have an idea for an app – what happens next? (idea validation)

    Getting a great idea for a new business venture is such an exciting feeling. Finally – you have something that might have legs but you’re still on the fence about what to do with it. It’s such a risk, but can you imagine the life that you might have – the flexibility of being your own boss and hopefully some financial rewards too? If you already run your own business, a new idea may allow you to grow your revenue and allow you to serve more customers.

    For some people, ideas are relatively easy to come by; for others, they struggle with coming up with just one.  However, it’s the ones that require you to build a web platform or mobile app that I’m interested in.

    There are many businesses that people can start and all of them have their complexities – if you want to design and make your own clothes, you’ll have to source fabric and manufacturing. If you want to sell other people’s goods, you’ll need to find those suppliers. If you want to be a consultant or service provider, you’ll have to decide what you want to offer and how you’ll deliver it.

    What makes developing an app particularly troublesome is the cost to build it.  Also, compared to physical goods, it’s not as easy to see a “sample” of your app before you put in the big order, which makes it difficult to know what you’re getting.     

    What should you do?

    If you’ve never been involved in an IT project before, an obvious question once you get your idea is – what do I do next? It’s a very smart question to ask! Before you quit your day job or bet the house on your new venture, let’s take a look at what your next steps should be. 

    If you read my first article on product and software development – you’ll know the answer to this question! 

    After you’ve come up with an idea, you need to analyse or validate it. This is the process of making sure that the idea is the right one to pursue. Making your idea a reality is going to require some investment from you – and it’s not only going to include your time.  More importantly, it’s going to include your money. Therefore, you need to take some time to research your idea to make sure the investment is worth it.

    Idea validation is a necessary step for most businesses, large and small – and it should be no different for you. The last thing you want to do is to spend money on an idea that no one wants. A structured approach to evaluating your idea is key. 

    So, what exactly are you looking for?    

    To get you started, we’ve put together five ways you can validate your idea:
    1. Talk to potential users – use your social media platforms to see if anyone knows anyone who has experienced the situation that you want to solve for, then ask them about their experiences and find out what their issues were. Determine if your product could solve their problems. Alternatively, start with a survey via SurveyMonkey or Typeform to get some feedback about your idea and then interview some of the people that responded.
    2. Look at your potential competition – use a search engine to see if there are any other companies currently doing what you want to do. Determine if what you could offer is at least as good, if not better, than what they do now. Also look at companies that solve the same problem but in a different way. Would you be able to stand out from the competition? 
    3. Look at potential environmental factors that may affect the viability of your business – are there new laws or regulations being proposed? Are there changes in technology? Are people behaving or thinking differently? A lot of new product successes are about timing rather than the product itself – if the world isn’t ready for it, it will be a lot harder to be successful regardless of how good the product is.
    4. Determine the potential size of your market – look for statistics that can give you an indication of the number of people that might experience the problem that you want to solve. What percentage of those people might buy your product?
    5. Think about how much you might charge for your product – would the price be one- off or recurring? Would there be an upsell or downsell? How could you get your customers to buy more from you? How many products would you have to sell to achieve your desired goals?
    What happens next?

    The above will give you an initial view of whether your idea is a good one. Sometimes this is enough for you to make a decision, but more often than not, you’ll have to dig a little deeper to gain the confidence that you need to go ahead with building your app. 

    There are lots of things to look at when validating an idea!  If you work for a large organisation, think about all of the processes that they put in place for spending money on new things.  People have to justify to the company why the idea is the right one to pursue.  

    It’s important to remember that you can’t take the risk out of every investment, but you do want to get enough information to make an informed decision about your idea.  After all, building an app could have a very big impact on your life – good or bad. So, the obvious is question it – why wouldn’t you take the time to validate your idea first?! 

    There are many different things to look at when validating an idea and different ways to do it. If you’ve gone through this process before, please feel free to share what you’ve done in the comments below.

    Want a blueprint for validating your idea?
    My Validation Course will walk you through some key tasks and activities to make sure your idea is worth pursuing
    It’s available now for only $47.

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  • Intro to Product and Software Development and Product Management (part 2 – at the beginning)

    Intro to Product and Software Development and Product Management (part 2 – at the beginning)

    In my last post, I introduced you to the concepts of product management, product development and software development. In this post, I want to bring it all together and explain what it means to a non-technical person starting on their app development journey. This all might seem a little daunting, so for now, here’s what you need to know:

    Product Development

    “Ideation” and “Analyse” are the most important parts of product development. In these phases, you need to be able to come up with an idea and see if it’s worth building:

    There are lots of different ways to come up with ideas for an app – but most usually come from personal experience – either at work or outside of work. Look for problems in your day-to-day life that might need solving.  Maybe it’s something in your industry or something in your job role.  Maybe it’s something at home, while travelling, parenting – the possibilities are endless!  

    After you have an idea, you want to make sure it’s the right one to pursue.  What makes you the right person to build this app?  Where might you need help? How big is the market? What’s the competitions like? There are lots of ways to evaluate your idea.  If you don’t validate your idea, then the rest of the process is really irrelevant. Validating an idea is about making sure you don’t want to waste your time and money on building an app that doesn’t allow you to achieve your goals.

    The product development process has natural “gates” that give you permission to stop what you’re doing and to go onto the next idea. If you don’t think your idea is good enough, keep repeating the “Ideation” phase until you have an idea that is more desirable. In the “Analyse” phase, if the idea doesn’t pass your validation criteria, you go back to the “Ideation” phase.

    Click Here
    To learn more about idea validation

    If you’ve decided to go ahead with developing your idea, you’ll then need to “Define” your product. This is about writing down what you want your product to do. This is an important process because it dictates how your product will end up!  Spend some time here really understanding the processes that people will go through, what you want them to do, what they’ll want to do and what information needs to be captured and stored. Also, consider all of the processes that might be involved in running your app – for example, how will people contact you if there is an issue? How will you respond to them? etc.

    Software Development

    The “Requirements” phase of software development overlaps with the “Define” phase of product development, so your defined product also forms the basis for the Requirements phase. The Requirements phase in software development will focus on the actual app being built; whereas the Define phase will look at everything that’s need to deliver and run the product.

    This phase is about telling people about what you want build – which makes it pretty important! If you can’t articulate what your product should do, then you might end up with something that is vastly different from what you expect. You’ll then spend a lot of time and money trying to make it right.

    Developers use the information that you provide about your product to estimate the cost of building it. This means that you want to be very clear about what you want your app to do. A lot of projects end up costing more money and take more time to complete because new things come up later in the project.

    Product Management

    Your product hasn’t been built yet, so the elements of managing the product through its lifecycle don’t come into play yet. However, you’ll want to start thinking about who your first users will be as you enter the next stages of building your product.

    What happens next?

    After you’ve figured out what your product needs to do, it’s time for you to start building. In our next article, we’ll look at getting your app designed and built.