12 steps to iterative mobile app development: From app mockup to launch
Iterative app prototyping can supercharge the mobile development process, helping you learn from mistakes, align expectations and validate requirements.
User hunger for mobile apps shows no sign of abating. In fact, according to data from Yahoo Flurry,over 90 of our online time is now dedicated to app use. This boom has led to designers and developers rushing to find more efficient ways to build and launch mobile apps; simply applying a trusty software-inspired waterfall approach, or even the kind of agile approach favoured in website development, can often be an imperfect fit for mobile.
The iterative prototyping model, on the other hand, lends itself to mobile app development. Iterative app prototyping allows developers to cycle through the build-test-rebuild process faster and at lower cost, as well as engaging stakeholders from the earlier stages.
Recently Justinmind explored this in a guestpost for InfoQ, breaking down the mobile app development process into 12 simple steps and considering just where iterative prototyping fits in.
Mobile app development in 12 steps
Step 1: Ask yourself tough questions
Before setting out on the journey to market launch, ask yourself some tough questions: what is your app for? What makes it unique? Is there truly a user need or desire for what you offer? We like the example of Spotify: back in the day the team must have sat down to solve a problem — user worries about accessing music legally online — and defined their USP from there. Focus groups, questionnaires, workshops, vox pops — anything that will get you hearing the users’ voices is a good way to strike out for new territory at this point.
