How to write app proposal-20150313 morning reading lesson

We receive calls and emails from people who have app ideas every day, and they want to know how much it takes to make such an app. At Calvium, we try to help them, but sometimes it's really hard to make such an offer. Asking about the value of an app is just like asking for the length of a rope (a translator's note: meaning you don't know the definite scope). Therefore, it is important to explain as much as possible about your ideas, and it is best to have a product plan to illustrate your ideas.

Many people have only the basic idea of their ideas, but want to tell the engineers first, use their expertise in the field to enrich their ideas. This is good! Many agencies offer day billing or consulting services, and if you're not confident, take the time to make sure your app is worth it.

But if you're sure that your ideas work, and you're trying to hire someone to do it for you, then you need to write a product plan. Writing a proposal is not easy, so before giving you a quote, take a look at some of the most important things that we need to know.

Objectives and Background

It's important to be clear about what you want your app to do. Does your app solve a real-world problem? Is it a game to promote "alternative learning"? (Translator Note: Alternative learning refers to the use of observing the behavior of others to grasp the complex stimulation, response, strengthen the relationship between learning methods.) List your project goals, not only to help us understand your app, but also to help you consolidate your ideas and understand the rest of the product features.

If you do any market research on your project, you should add it to your project goals.

Audience

Who is this app for? The answer seems obvious, but knowing your app's service audience can also help uncover other features that you'll do in the future and help us understand what the app's user experience should look like. If you serve a child, the visual design should be different, for example, its buttons may be larger.

Operating System

Do you want your app to run on iOS? Android? Windows? Or is it all included? In our experience, many people will develop Android and iOS programs. Identifying which operating system your app runs on will be the most important point in determining your app's price, so you should think about it. It also affects what we do next.

native or mixed?

Developing an app with iOS and Android is like writing a paper in French and Chinese. Although we are doing the same thing, we have adopted two completely different strategies. Each operating system has a different development language, so if you want to do it natively, it will cost you twice as much. Hybrid development can reduce costs. If you clearly know the difference between native and mixed development, tell your agency what you want. If you're not sure, they'll give you advice and tell you which way they think is best for your project. (Do not know the meaning of native/mixed?) Look at this blog post, native vs hybrid App.

Timeline Schedule

Is your job overdue? Is your partner too overdue? Try to give the project end date in as much detail as possible.

Functional Design

This is the key. If you can, when app development is complete, write a copy of the product that will appear in the App Store in the future. This will force you to describe the app's functionality in a concise and clear way.

Unless you're a designer, it's a good idea to hand over the work that defines the user interface and experience design to the agency you choose. However, it is necessary to define the functionality of the app in detail, otherwise it is difficult to give an accurate quote. In general, the first step in developing any app is to have detailed functional descriptions that include all the screen sizes your users might encounter and how they interact with the app.

However, although you have a very detailed description of a set of feature lists, the agency may only give a ballpark quote.

We always think that a good app needs to do a simple thing, but the way to do it is a series of functional points. For example, if your app needs to "get you out of a big hole in the street," it will have several features like:

• Automatically record your location in your report.
• Let you attach a picture to the report.
• Click the button and send it to the right person automatically.

Think about the additional feature points, whether it's worth it if these features are necessary, or if the added functionality goes beyond the budget.

Here are some examples of features that can seriously affect your costs:

• Push reminders. Do you need to send a reminder or something?
• Geo-positioning. Need to know where you are, or show where you are going?
• Social. Need to share to Facebook or other platforms?
• Do you need to log in?
• Do you have user attributes?
• Price model. Will people spend money on your app? Will there be an in-app purchase?
• Will people give you a rating or a rating?
• Will it link to the website? (your website, YouTube, etc.)
• Does the app's content come from a database or an internal system?

Visual Design

Most agency companies have "Home Office" visual designers who are proficient in mobile design. These designers are good communicators because they know how to make the best design and don't like to go back and forth. If you work with such a "Home Office" team, they need to follow their own design guidelines (to design). Any instructions you can give them will be useful to them. Do you know what color and font you want? What kind of logo logo do you want? Ideally, if you have guidelines on branding, you should also tell them.

operation and Maintenance plan

You can discuss OPS with your chosen development engineer, but you'd better show that you know your app needs operational maintenance and you've thought about what to do. (Take a look at our blog post on App Ops and why we should do this)

Additional Information

It is useful to provide an additional form with full contact details and a resume for each project participant, including e-mail addresses, roles and responsibilities, as well as phone numbers and photos.

Summary

Writing a product planning document will not only help you realize what your app will look like, but also prove your ability to developers and let them know that you're a great partner.

It is worth noting, however, that it is best to use your proposal as a reference document, not as an iron to be changed. It's likely that your app will face many changes in the early stages, and then your chosen agency will tell you about it and help you make those decisions.

How to write app proposal-20150313 morning reading lesson