Prevent mobile app nightmares with the Mobile Maturity Checklist

This post can help you understand the enormous task of developing a mobile app. It's introduces a checklist aimed at entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs and organisational leaders. Hopefully, I can give you a peek into the app development journey ahead, which will help you prepare and avoid some of the headaches.

The first app is often the hardest

When I meet with individuals who've embarked on a mobile app development project, I often ask them "how did you find the process?". Their eyes often show pain. They say they can't believe how difficult it was. The blown budgets. The lateness. The quality issues. The communications breakdown. The clunky user experience.

They often say "I learned so much; I would do it very differently if I had the chance". 

So how do you avoid these problems? 

The Checklist 

We've created a checklist to help you understand the core areas of app development, which will help you be mindful of things that are important.

For someone just starting an app, use it to prompt interesting questions when talking to potential app development agencies. Or if you're mid-way through your app development, use it to reflect on where things might be going well or badly.

View and download the checklist

The checklist helps you think about the following core aspects of app development.

• Strategy
  
  Clarity of why an app is being developed prevents scope creep and creates alignment of stakeholders. Is the reason for the apps' existence clear? Does it have clearly defined customer outcomes and business outcomes? If not, are you really building an experiment rather than an app?
• Design
  
  Good design leads to customer satisfaction. Are you taking a sensible approach to your mobile app design? How robust is the process?
• Development
  
  Development practices affect cost, customer experience, timeline and quality. What technical practices should your developers adopt? 
• Quality
  
  A focus on quality reduces customer frustration and protects your brand. What quality practices are in place? How will you avoid disappointing your customers with bugs? 
• Growth
  
  Having the growth foundations in place allows for marketing and product optimisation. Are you poised for growth? Is the app instrumented correctly? What is important to measure? What marketing technologies will you use?
• Process
  
  A good process keeps everyone sane and impacts relationships, costs and your reputation. What are the ways of working? What healthy process habits will you and your app development partner adopt? Who is responsible for what?

Enjoy, and feedback is welcome!