Design, Design, Design and then Design some more

So many of us just want to jump in and start coding right away.  I'm sure this approach works for some, but I believe to build a truly great app, you have to do proper design.  This doesn't mean you have to design every single piece up front, but you should layout your basic idea up front, and the iterate through various pieces of detailed design as you move forward.  Doing proper research and design up front can save you countless hours later on.

Proper research and design should include checking what new features are in the latest devices or latest IOS version, and seeing how you could take advantage of those to implement your new idea.  Successfully integration latest features can help you down the road to potentially even get featured by Apple.  Getting featured however should never be your primary goal, but implementing these latest features will also improve your customer experience which should be a primary goal.

When designing, I'm still a big proponent of getting a paper and pencil and drawing it all out.  Maybe that makes me old school, but I think it's much easier to visualize and change by following this approach.  Also, grab some kind of recording device and talk out loud to explain your thought processes.  This can be very important later when you inevitably ask yourself, what was I thinking when I designed it that way. :)

So, in summary:
Design, design, design, and then design some more.
Try to incorporate latest device and IOS features.
Get it all on paper.
Record your thought pattern for later.

Start with the Idea

Starting the discussion towards my first AppStore App, I think best place to start is with the idea itself.  I didn't just have the final idea pop into my head in the shower or while laying in bed as I have heard others say before.  I had, and continue to have ideas come to mind at random times.  I think one of key things I started to do and I would definitely suggest others to do the same, is anytime you get an idea, write it down somewhere.  Don't give any thought yet as to whether it is implementable or not, just write it down so that you can go back to it later.  I had countless ideas that I never wrote down that I later forgot.  I think some were good ideas also, but now they are lost forever.  

After you have your idea written down, and have some spare time to go back and look at it, it's time to start your research.  If it's for an AppStore app, search the store for similar ideas, see what they did well, identify what you could do better.  Don't worry if someone has implemented almost the same idea, as this in a way validates your idea and as long as you can come up with a way to improve upon it, or add some new useful features, you should proceed.  

If during your research, you identify a roadblock that you feel just cannot be overcome, due to technology not supporting it, etc., then fail quickly.  Keep the idea on the back burner for the future when the roadblock can be removed.

If no initial roadblocks are identified, continue your research, run your idea past some friends you trust to give you honest feedback.  Ideally friends familiar with the category your App will enter.  Evaluate the feedback and make adjustments as needed, but never let a negative word dissuade you if you feel comfortable you have a novel idea or approach.  How many friends would have thought shooting birds out of a slingshot at pigs would be a huge success?

So, in summary, 
1. write your ideas down, all of them.
2. do initial research on similar apps to compare.
3. discuss the idea with friends.
4. Don't let anyone dissuade you if you feel confident in your idea.

Building your first Mobile App

Starting this blog to share my experiences with creating my first Mobile App.  I will attempt to walk through my trials and tribulations, things I think I did wrong, and things I think I did correct.  I will share what I learned along the way and hopefully it will help those of you interested in doing similar in future to learn from both my mistakes and my correct steps.  I hope you all will find this interesting and we can have a wonderful discussion along the way.