6 Tips For Speedy Mobile App Development
In the highly competitive mobile app market, beating your copycats to the punch can be the difference between success and failure. Nobody wants to get labelled as a rip-off, so it’s essential that you hit the market first and establish yourself as the real deal.
Many first-time developers fall into the traps that slow down development, from trying to do everything in-house to manually testing. These traps can be avoided and doing so will dramatically speed up your development time. In the dynamic world of app development there’s a need for speed, so check out these tips and put the pedal to the metal.
Use Cross Platform Tools
Smartphone technology is supposed to give us constant access to an unlimited world of play, learning and communication. So when an app turns up that’s limited to one mobile platform, users are immediately frustrated that what’s supposed to be a new frontier turns out to have borders after all. And for app developers, figuring out which platforms to develop on can be as time consuming as it is important.
But why choose? Cross-platform coding tools enable you to code your app for multiple platforms. Developing unique apps for different platforms is going to double your development time, making hybrid apps that work across multiple platforms the way to go. By being quicker to code and expanding your market in the same swoop, you’ll be sure to make your app a success.
Start With Wireframes
Diving in headfirst to write the code for your app may seem logical, but the UX issues that arise in a code-first process often require time-consuming tweaking at later stages. Veteran designers know that starting with wireframes saves heaps of time in the long run. A wireframe gives you a low-fidelity visual look at the user interface you’re producing. “Generating wireframes allows for quick exploration of variations on your apps architecture,” says Matthew Lacher, app developer at Write My X and NextCoursework. “Although a wireframe is less-detailed, it allows your whole team to see a simplified vision of the end product, getting everyone communicating in the same language and working towards the same end goal.”
The Real MVP
It’s natural that you want your app to be the best it can be – after all, this is your baby, your brainchild. However it’s a sure-fire way to slow down the process to aim for a fully-fledged product from the start. Nowadays it’s all about the MVP – the minimum viable product – that can be brought to market it the shortest possible time while development continues behind the scenes. Shorter development cycles ensure speedy development, and once an MVP is out there you’ll be gathering essential user feedback that ensures you’re not developing with blinkers on. There’s so much less risk involved in app development once your MVP is out there as you see the product functioning in the market and you can tweak it to ensure you’re getting the maximum return.
Use Third Party Assets
When you’re getting into app development, it’s easy to let enthusiasm push you into building everything yourself, but the truth is that there are loads of third-party assets already developed that are going to slide seamlessly into your app, saving you time in the development process and letting you focus on the things that make your app unique. Writing or commissioning your own music or building your own graphics takes time, when perfectly good third-party examples exist out there. You can even buy code from certain websites to fill certain roles in your app whilst you develop around it.
Automate The Testing Process
Manually testing your app may seem like the “hands-on” approach you want to take but letting go and automating the testing process can save a huge amount of time. Mary Cooper, tech blogger at Britstudent and Australia2Write reports that “automated testing can simultaneously run multiple tests that you’d otherwise have to do individually. By automating testing you can run more tests in less time, and create a clean-running and bug-free flawless app.”
Reach Out
You can’t do everything yourself, and recognizing that there are certain areas of expertise your team is lacking lets you reach out for help in specialized areas. For example, if your team is full of iOS specialists, outsourcing your Android development is a guaranteed time-saver compared to starting from scratch on a new platform. Alternatively, plenty of tasks are just too menial for it to be efficient to allow your specialized in-house team deal with. Non-essential tasks such as add-ons that contribute to the core product or even administrative tasks can be outsourced, allowing you to save time in the build-up to releasing your product.
The Final Word
Building an app is an exciting and dynamic time, but it’s easy to get bogged down in the process when timely release of your product is the key to success. Following these top tips will ensure speedy development of a successful product.
Katrina Hatchett, a tech blogger at Coursework writing services and writer for Origin Writings. She enjoys problem solving for developing businesses, and is thrilled by the dynamic world of coding and development. Her further writing can be found at Thesis Writing Service blog.
