An idea for an app and what’s next? How do you plan the next steps from idea to finished product?

Brilliant mobile app ideas are simple and deeply researched. However, it turns out that the key to success is the right plan of action to help realize the idea and turn it into a finished product. So what can be done to bring an idea for an application to life? We present a digital product development cycle to help you take the next steps.

Application idea – step-by-step product development cycle

Before you can make millions from your app and find the right software house, you need to look at the app idea from multiple levels. Often developers fail to find flaws in the software and evaluate the project objectively. Therefore, the first step should be feedback from friends and people in the IT industry. Then you can go through the entire product development cycle, which is as follows:

1. research: verify your application ideas

It is the target audience that plays the most important role in the development of the application. Therefore, it is necessary to reach out to her and verify the idea of the application among the interested parties themselves. We recommend finding a relevant Facebook group and conducting a survey on it. There you can include questions about functionality, needs, comments and monetization issues.

You should also look for your target group on LinkedIn and on industry portals. They are the ones who develop ideas for applications. Direct contact with potential recipients often proves to be the most effective way to get satisfactory answers.

2. strategy: choose a specific application idea

If the research has yielded comprehensive data, it’s time to move on to strategy. It turns out that most startups fail in the first months of operation. The main reason for this is the lack of strategy, which is inexcusable, even with an excellent idea for an application. At this stage, you should answer the questions – what are the benefits of using the product, why is it worth investing in it and does it stand out from the competition.

Branding is a very important element. Such activities include application promotion in blogs, SEO activities, SEM, PR campaigns and affiliate programs. Many companies are opting for similar measures, even if the product has not yet been completed. Such a strategy gives brands a big advantage at the start and increases the chance of realizing an app idea.

3. validation: evaluate the capabilities of the application

It is often the case that application ideas become diluted over time. Therefore, it is necessary to confirm the compliance of the project with the objectives. Validation is a study that aims to answer the question of whether activities lead to planned results. At this stage, all parameters of the application are measured, determining its strengths and weaknesses.

Often solutions are revised and discussed among developers and UX specialists. The validation stage is an important phase of project implementation, where application ideas are verified against reality. The capability assessment provides an answer to the question of whether the product is useful, will allow it to meet its objectives and how to prepare a prototype.

4. prototypes: from app idea to design

In a nutshell, an application prototype is a schematic design of the interface for the end user. It consists of successive screens that show the next steps. At the stage of software prototyping, the basic functions of the system can be demonstrated with a clickable mockup of the application. At this stage you have to expect to make graphical changes, but the most important thing in the prototype is to follow the principles of User Experience.

Check out more information about UX/UI:

UX/UI design: user experience design matters

Prototypes are pictorial representations of an application idea that should undergo detailed analysis and verification. After prototyping, it was time for feedback and a return to design analysis. With a preliminary model, developers can learn lessons and improve their design.

Also check out the article:

Pre-implementation analysis

Application design: native or cross-platform?

5 Development: is your product paying off?

Financial issues are a priority in the IT industry. It is up to them to make sure that the application ideas come into effect. The vast majority of software houses price their services based on criteria such as the number of screens, connection to the database, running the server, or refining more features. The price of creating an application is also affected by the choice of appropriate technology.

Fortunately, costs can be reduced through outsourcing, affiliate programs, and agency cooperation. It is difficult to accurately estimate the cost of implementing a mobile app idea through changing market conditions, the human factor and possible changes in the project implementation process. Nonetheless, a key success factor is to determine the profitability of launching the application based on a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the entire venture.

6. maintenance: product improvement

Realized application ideas require the ongoing involvement of the project team. Digital products need to undergo improvements and repairs that make them work even more efficiently. New functionalities are being added to mobile applications to expand their capabilities. It is also common for application modules to refuse to serve and require changes to the code, and sometimes the processes users face need to be improved.

For this reason, specialists must oversee the proper operation of applications and their improvement. Maintenance and product enhancement is the final stage of the product development cycle to develop an application idea.

Also check out the article:

Product backlog and user story

Summary: An idea for an application and what’s next

An app idea can be worth up to one million zlotys, provided it meets all the specific criteria. In addition to the functionality of the software itself, you need to think about monetization, market needs, promotion of the product and the complexity of the project. For this reason, originators should look at the entire product development cycle and analyze its implementation, from research to the application refinement stage.

Wondering which app to choose? Learn more about our solution: Flutter hybrid applications

If you have an interesting idea and would like to share it with experts, contact FutureCode IT Consulting. We implement the latest technologies to achieve our clients’ business goals. We have experience in developing dedicated software to help you validate your idea and bring it to life.