5 key ingredients in successful mobile projects
TRANSCRIPT
5 key ingredients in successful mobile projects
Can!na 2016
#mobile5ingredients
The mobile world has matured, especially for developers
Mobile Development Tools
But a!aining mobile success is s"ll proving to be a challenge
Mobile Success Rates
84% of users’ !me is spent in just 5 apps
25% of apps are used only once a"er they’ve been downloaded
25% of apps have 100,000+ downloads
5% of apps have 1M+ downloads
If apps are easier than ever to develop, why are they so rarely successful?
Common Challenges• Low user a#en!on spans
• Iden!fying user contexts
• User onboarding
• Feature creep
• Restric!ve rules
• Android fragmenta!on
• App performance
• Debugging
• Device tes!ng
• Mul!ple code-bases
“How much will it cost To build our app?”
It’s not just an app
It’s not just a one-off project.
Even if it’s internal.
Even if it’s temporary.
You’re building a product.
“What will it take to build the right product?”
It’s not enough to simply exist in the mobile space. You must create mobile products that
cap"vate your customers and keep them coming back.
The recipe is for a product not just an app
People
experience thinking
capabilitiesprocess
5 key ingredients in successful
mobile projects
Process
First step: Adopt a process geared for holis"c product development
Use Lean & Agile methodologies to hypothesize and validate
solutions
Product Development Process
Vision Define Design Deliver Measure
Big ideasShippable product
Tested features
VisionTarget audience explora!on
Problem defini!on
KPIs & success metrics
Solu!on idea!on
DefineFeature valida!on
Feature priori!za!on
Product road-mapping
Ecosystem evalua!on
DesignDesign hypotheses
Customer interviews
Interac!ve prototyping
Usability tes!ng
Interface design
DeliverAgile sprints
Automated tes!ng and CI
Tooling for easy device previews
API development to drive the app
Tech leadership when developing across pla%orms in parallel
MeasureBeta releases
Device tes!ng
Usage analy!cs
App Store reviews
Implemen"ng a lean, agile approach will start your team in using a product mindset
Capabilities
It’s not just about having iOS or Android dev on hand
d
The right mix of capabilities will unlock new opportunities
for your product
“Product Management with no User Experience Design creates func"onal products that don’t make
users excited. User Experience Design with no Product Management produces deligh#ul products
that don’t become businesses.”
Melissa Perri
The capabilities You’ll needProduct Management
Project Management
Experience Designer
Mobile Development
Back-end Development
Yes, they’re different
Product Development Process
Vision Define Design Deliver Measure
Big ideasShippable product
Tested features
Focus for each capabilityProduct Management Project Management Experience Design
Mobile Development Back-end Development
Maintaining the vision and feature backlog of the product
Implemen!ng agile prac!ces with the team through each sprint
Researching, prototyping, visual and interac!ve design
Building performant, produc!on-ready apps
API development to power the app
A fully capable team will be able to take the product from idea to launch without stopping
Experience
Capabili"es are best backed up by exper"se and experience
Faster to build
Faster to iterate
Faster to identify the features your audience will love
Experienced designers live for rapid prototypes
Experienced designers know their design pa!erns
Experienced developers understand the pla#orms
Experienced developers can avoid common pi#alls
Experienced teams know how to avoid feature creep
An experienced team will close the gap between the product you’re building and the product your audience wants
Thinking
Innova"ve solu"ons are a product of innova"ve thinking
innovative thinking involves problem solving and
breaking down complexity
The team should be thinking about how to marry the user needs
with the business needs
The team should be thinking about reducing the product to its
simplest form
The team should be thinking about breaking down technical complexi"es
The team should be thinking about how the product fits in with
the user’s app ecosystem
The same style of innova"ve thinking is used for solving product, design, and technical challenges
People
Your people are the difference between an idea and reality
Build up your team with people…with a passion for mobile
with empathy for end users
who enjoy experimen!ng
who value open communica!on
who look to team up with others (hint: avoid “rockstars”)
The teams that consistently deliver are the teams that trust each other
Embrace everyone on your delivery team as a “designer”
If the people working on your product don’t stand out, your product won’t stand out
Wrap Up
Increase your likelihood for success by focusing on the full recipe.
People
experience thinking
capabilitiesprocess
5 key ingredients in successful
mobile projects
Filling your gapsLack of…
Process
Capabili!es
Experience
Thinking
People
Approach
Codify the parts of your process that work well and those that could improve. Start small and work your way up.
Expand your teams to include more diverse resources
Work on more mobile projects, even small experiments
Study up on principles and prac!ces necessary for mobile product development
Staff up your teams or seek out external help that can not only deliver, but help train your in-house folks
Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking how much
Your app costs
build your app the way you’d build other products
Deliver the right product to the right audience
Thank you
About cantina• Boston-based digital design and development agency
• Founded in 2007, 60+ employees
• We help clients like Putnam Investments, John Hancock, CUNA Mutual Group, Epsilon, and Pearson deliver be#er digital products for their customers
• Can!na’s people turn great ideas into digital reality, execu!ng with the best design and development techniques available