1. Focus on the minimum viable product (MVP)

When you think about creating an app, you will come across several functionalities and features that you think the app should have. Some of this will be necessary and some are secondary or fancy. You must focus on the basic ones that should be developed for the minimum viable product (MVP) which will serve the purpose. Once the MVP is launched and used by the users, based on their demand prioritize the next functionalities/features to be updated on the app. This will help in better budgeting of the app development cycle.

2. Keep budget for all phase

To sustainably develop and run an app you need to segregate budget

• Cost for MVP
• The monthly cost for Infrastructure – Servers and third-party services.
• Maintenance cost – When the Operating system of the phone updates, the app should be updated accordingly sometimes. The maintenance cost is inevitable even if you are not adding any more feature and needs to run the app as it is.
• Cost for adding new features/functionalities.

3. Define the complete scope of work for MVP

You must create a complete scope of work document for the MVP and lock it before starting the design and development. It is highly likely to change your mind during developing an MVP. In such cases, the app development process is prolonged. For example, an app that was supposed to complete in 6 months could go up to 2 years if you do not lock the scope of work. This also results in increasing the cost considerably.

4. Design disrupts – user experience is the key

User experience and design matter more than you think in the success of an app. The app should be both aesthetically great and functional to give the best user experience. One other thing to keep in mind who you are building this app for. Keeping the demography of the users in mind during the design process could help in better user engagement and experience.

5. Pick the right technologies and third-party solutions

The use of the right technology is very important to make the app future-proof. From our experience, it is better to pick the right technology from the first place than picking a basic technology and thinking to change later which could make the transformation both technically and financially difficult. You can either pick hybrid or native technologies based on your app objectives and users.

6. Clean coding matters!

Most of the developers copy codes from different repositories and websites to build the app. This is not a recommended practice to develop a secure and stable app. A quality app must be Clean coded and well structures and well defined so when any developer looks at the codes it should be understandable. You must engage developers who can do clean coding practice.

7. Rigorous testing throughout is the key

One thing to keep in mind is no apps are 100% stable or bug-free. This could not be the problem in coding, but several other reasons such as phone model, operating system version used, updates in OS, user behavior, etc. So, it is important to not stop testing the app rigorously to keep as stable as possible.

It is important to break the app as much as possible by testing rigorously to ensure stability when launching. In a project life cycle, at least half of the time should be invested in testing.

8. Don’t hesitate to spend on a quality app

You get what you pay for. Looking for the cheapest option to develop a dream app can jeopardize the whole idea launch. Spending a lot on app development doesn’t ensure quality too. Creative – functional design, clean coding, right software architecture, best-fit technology stack, servers, testing, and maintenance could ensure the quality of the app. So don’t hesitate to spend on quality resources.