3 key considerations when building an app

Applications are everywhere, in all shapes and sizes. Companies are making more and more use of it. Both internally and externally and for both communication and interaction with (potential) customers and for the smart processing of internal data. In many cases, apps are a front-end with a smart system behind it for presenting or combining data. But how do you make a good app? And what should you take into account? An overview of three considerations that are sometimes forgotten.

1. What is the minimum product you need?

Apps are almost never invented by engineers, but by the business. For example, the marketing department or the HR department. Chances are that they already see the app all in front of them, with all the bells and whistles associated with it. The trick then is to reduce this vision to the core; version 1.0. What is the minimum required to run the app? This is important because although you can predict a lot in advance, you can never predict everything. Once you have the basics up and running, you can continue to build on more. At Thesio, we often call this an MVP (minimum viable product). We have often experienced that an entrepreneur finds it difficult to return a huge idea to an MVP variant, but it has always worked so far.

2. Let your app 'grow' along the way!

Developing apps takes a lot of time and money. It is therefore important to ensure that your development runs efficiently. And you do that by working with “sprints” where, for example, you fully write out, develop and deliver one functionality at a time. For the business owner, this has two major advantages: you can adjust the details of the functionalities along the way and it also provides cost control. Once you know what one functionality with an x number of details costs in practice, you also have a good estimate of the costs for functionality number two and three.

3. Take into account links and the load on your system.

An app shows, sends and processes data. In many cases, this data comes from multiple locations at the same time and from both internal and external data sources. In addition, there are two important questions to ask yourself beforehand:

• How many links do I need?
• What amount of data is it about and what technique does it come in with? (depending on the number of active users)

As you expect your app to be used more, the load on the connections between the data sources and the app increases. The trick is to develop your architecture in such a way that you certainly don't make it too small, but preferably not too big either. Because then you'll spend more than necessary. A good assessment of the expected use and choosing the right IT infrastructure therefore has enormous consequences for the development process of your app.

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