Taming the Dragon: How to Work Successfully with a Mobile App Developer

(Image via thefadedline.com)

It’s not a challenge for the faint of heart. Entering the den of the mobile app developer, looking the beast in the eye, and describing the app you’re after takes courage and clear vision. St. George may have slain his dragon, but your mission is to partner with yours—and ultimately, by working together, create the killer app of your dreams.

Be Sure You Come with a Plan

The key to a successful partnership is a written plan; a detailed description of your mobile app. Put it in a document accessible on your smartphone, perhaps via Dropbox or Documents to Go. Keep it ready to whip out in an instant should you suddenly discover yourself in the presence of the Jabberwock of developer dragons.

Your mobile app plan describes:

• What you want your app to do.
• Who you want to use it.
• How it will feel to the user.

Following advice from Lou Dubois, Philadelphia-based Social Media Editor for NBC Universal’s local news affiliate WCAU-TV, your plan should show how the mobile app you have in mind makes life cheaper, easier, or more fun.

This clear and concise outline is sometimes called a “requirements” document. It could be as basic as a bullet point list, a flow chart, a mind map, or jpg mock-up, even a hand-drawn sketch. But the more specific and thoughtful you can be, the better. And the more cost efficient, too.

Remember: app developers in the United States charge upwards of $100 an hour. A small app can cost around $3000 to $8000. Good communication and a concise mobile app plan can help keep the project on budget.

You must share the same specifications with each of the developers you ask to bid on your project. This ensures that each developer is bidding on the same functionality, security features, design, and business requirements.

Creating a Wireframe to Save Time and Money

According to the Make App Ideas Team the best way to do an app plan is to draw every screen and even draw flow charts showing how each screen leads to another. These screen drawings are called “wireframes.” But don’t be intimidated by the lingo. Spencer Schmerling at Evolutionate, Inc. www.evolutionate.com, explains how to do this in a white paper: The Six Biggest Mistakes people make when developing mobile apps. Here’s a summary of how Evolutionate suggests you do a wireframe:

Draw a rectangle representing the phone screen. Above the rectangle write the name of the screen (like Main Menu). Next, one-by-one add the elements that will make up that screen. Don’t worry how it looks or if it all fits—your designer will take care of all of that. You just need to get all those elements on paper.

If there is a lot of text on the screen (like a help file), just write the words “Lorem Ipsum” followed by three dots. That’s a common abbreviation indicating some text in that area—but at this stage actual text isn’t needed.

Off to the side of the rectangle, write down a brief description of what each element on that screen does. You can skip explaining obvious items, like a button that says, “delete.” Mark other buttons with a symbol, like a star or triangle, and then note on the side what buttons with that specific symbol will do.

(Image via Gliffy.com)

Now repeat that process for all the screens and you have yourself a wireframe of your new app!

But Wait! There’s an App for That

If you really want to impress a developer dragon, there’s a Free App you can download at www.gliffy.com/examples/wireframes that will help you draw a wireframe and give it polish and presence.

Gliffy makes it easy to put your ideas into a wireframe format that the whole development team can share and even revise and improve as you go along. This will streamline the process when estimating costs and clarifying details while helping Coders, Writers, Graphic Designers and Testers to do their jobs efficiently.

Whether you have a series of hand-drawn app screens or a fully developed wireframe, the app plan is the most important tool for making your mobile app a reality. All the time you put into it will pay you back. And best of all, it assures a developer, whether it’s an agency, a boutique, or a dragon, that you’re ready to talk business.

What are you thoughts on app development? Have any tips to share? Sound off in the comments and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn. And stay up-to-date on the latest from the blog with our free newsletter.

Alexandre Rogers, former Tokyo ex-pat from Boston now transplanted to New York’s Hudson Valley, writes about technology, business and horticulture.