How to choose a mobile app developer
October 03, 2016We have been developing applications since 2007 and the article is based on our experience of completed projects and communication with customers. Necessary material is too extensive for one article, so I will describe the criteria that will help in the choice. The article is intended for those wishing to develop an application for business or a startup, but not yet identified with the contractor.
So, you have compiled a list of one or several dozen of companies, using ratings, publications on the Internet and advice from your friends. For the selection of a single company, I propose to use the criteria listed below. They are all important, so use in random over.
Does the company have a real office?
Exclude from consideration companies that don’t have a website, because we are talking about developers! On the website you can find the phone and office address. In this case it’s possible to visit the office of the company, get acquainted personally with the leader of the company, make sure that your future development partners are not two students from a basement room. Unfortunately, some of the companies don’t have an office and permanent location. If you want to visit them, they will offer a meeting in a café.
Portfolio
By portfolio, they judge the experience of the company in development. Companies, which are working on the market more 5 years, as a rule, have more than 50 completed projects in their portfolio.
Has the company developed applications with similar functionality?
If the company didn’t it, it is not necessarily a minus. The company might have the great experience in the development generally. And if the company was developing a proper application - that's a plus.
Communication by Skype
It's necessary to appoint a meeting on video communication, get acquainted, look at the person with whom you will work. Talking about general and technical themes. Asking to show the office, it’s easy to make if the developer starts skype on his mobile device.
Is the developer interested in your business?
Tell about the future app and your company. An attentive developer will suggest solutions based on his own experience. He knows, which solutions work and which ones don’t, according to experience with other customers.
Client’s reviews
May the developer give the contacts of previous clients, who will tell about the experience of working with the company?
Necessary staff in the team
Effective are the companies, which have all employees working at the same territory, communicate personally and complement each other’s decisions. Make sure that the company has designers, application-specific programmers and testers. Freelancers are not focused on the result of the development, but on the implementation of a piece of work. A weak interaction between the participants in the development leads to the accumulation of errors at the intersection of areas of responsibility.
Design and user experience
Appearance and convenience of the app are no less important functional. Eventually, with similar application functionality in AppStore and Google Play, the user will select an application with an intuitive interface. For this, the staff of the developer company must necessarily have experts in user experience and design.
Does the company have full development cycle?
App development is not just programming. You need to develop a Software Requirements Document with interface sketches, application design, test, publish in AppStore or Google Play, provide technical support, collect statistics, improve the user experience.
Organization of the development process
How is development process organized in the company, is it transparent for you? Will you see the intermediate results of the work?
Guarantee and support
Does the company provide a guarantee for work, does it provide technical support? Guarantee is free, for technical support most often conclude a separate agreement with a subscription fee.
Intellectual Property
Does the developer provide the source code at the end of the work? Does it guarantee that the rights of third parties aren’t violated in the process?
Terms of payment and contract
A good practice is to divide all the work into stages with prepayment and postpay for each stage. In this scheme, the interests of both parties are taken into account. As a rule, the company has a template contract, provided at your request before the development. If you have your own format of contract, discuss this in advance.
Terms of development
A complex criterion for self-assessment. Compare the estimates for the timing of several companies. The shortest, knocking out the series, most often don’t correspondent to reality.
Cross-platform
A few years ago, native solutions were compared on the Internet, developed separately for each platform and cross-platform. I hold the view that cross-platform solutions work for business card apps only. If developer describes them benefits for a lower price, then ask to show a few completed projects and rate the quality of work on 2-3 platforms.
Price
Don’t make a decision based on price only. You need a working product, not a cheap one. Use this criterion only if all other criteria are equal. In an attempt to save you will get a product that will not benefit you or your business. To finalize such a product is difficult due to unprofessional execution. If the budget does not allow you to choose a reliable company, select only the required functionality of the app and start with it. In this case, you will have an opportunity to get acquainted with the work of the company at the cost of lesser risks. If you can’t single out the initial functional, postpone development.
Agree with me:
Rahul Varshneya, Kim Lachance Shandrow, Mark Mason
Roman Leshukov,
CEO & Director of Design
So, you have compiled a list of one or several dozen of companies, using ratings, publications on the Internet and advice from your friends. For the selection of a single company, I propose to use the criteria listed below. They are all important, so use in random over.
Does the company have a real office?
Exclude from consideration companies that don’t have a website, because we are talking about developers! On the website you can find the phone and office address. In this case it’s possible to visit the office of the company, get acquainted personally with the leader of the company, make sure that your future development partners are not two students from a basement room. Unfortunately, some of the companies don’t have an office and permanent location. If you want to visit them, they will offer a meeting in a café.
Portfolio
By portfolio, they judge the experience of the company in development. Companies, which are working on the market more 5 years, as a rule, have more than 50 completed projects in their portfolio.
Has the company developed applications with similar functionality?
If the company didn’t it, it is not necessarily a minus. The company might have the great experience in the development generally. And if the company was developing a proper application - that's a plus.
Communication by Skype
It's necessary to appoint a meeting on video communication, get acquainted, look at the person with whom you will work. Talking about general and technical themes. Asking to show the office, it’s easy to make if the developer starts skype on his mobile device.
Is the developer interested in your business?
Tell about the future app and your company. An attentive developer will suggest solutions based on his own experience. He knows, which solutions work and which ones don’t, according to experience with other customers.
Client’s reviews
May the developer give the contacts of previous clients, who will tell about the experience of working with the company?
Necessary staff in the team
Effective are the companies, which have all employees working at the same territory, communicate personally and complement each other’s decisions. Make sure that the company has designers, application-specific programmers and testers. Freelancers are not focused on the result of the development, but on the implementation of a piece of work. A weak interaction between the participants in the development leads to the accumulation of errors at the intersection of areas of responsibility.
Design and user experience
Appearance and convenience of the app are no less important functional. Eventually, with similar application functionality in AppStore and Google Play, the user will select an application with an intuitive interface. For this, the staff of the developer company must necessarily have experts in user experience and design.
Does the company have full development cycle?
App development is not just programming. You need to develop a Software Requirements Document with interface sketches, application design, test, publish in AppStore or Google Play, provide technical support, collect statistics, improve the user experience.
Organization of the development process
How is development process organized in the company, is it transparent for you? Will you see the intermediate results of the work?
Guarantee and support
Does the company provide a guarantee for work, does it provide technical support? Guarantee is free, for technical support most often conclude a separate agreement with a subscription fee.
Intellectual Property
Does the developer provide the source code at the end of the work? Does it guarantee that the rights of third parties aren’t violated in the process?
Terms of payment and contract
A good practice is to divide all the work into stages with prepayment and postpay for each stage. In this scheme, the interests of both parties are taken into account. As a rule, the company has a template contract, provided at your request before the development. If you have your own format of contract, discuss this in advance.
Terms of development
A complex criterion for self-assessment. Compare the estimates for the timing of several companies. The shortest, knocking out the series, most often don’t correspondent to reality.
Cross-platform
A few years ago, native solutions were compared on the Internet, developed separately for each platform and cross-platform. I hold the view that cross-platform solutions work for business card apps only. If developer describes them benefits for a lower price, then ask to show a few completed projects and rate the quality of work on 2-3 platforms.
Price
Don’t make a decision based on price only. You need a working product, not a cheap one. Use this criterion only if all other criteria are equal. In an attempt to save you will get a product that will not benefit you or your business. To finalize such a product is difficult due to unprofessional execution. If the budget does not allow you to choose a reliable company, select only the required functionality of the app and start with it. In this case, you will have an opportunity to get acquainted with the work of the company at the cost of lesser risks. If you can’t single out the initial functional, postpone development.
Agree with me:
Rahul Varshneya, Kim Lachance Shandrow, Mark Mason
Roman Leshukov,
CEO & Director of Design
