Bump after bump in the development of mobile applications

A post about what I learned in the process of working on the application. Looking back, I ask a strange question: in the end who created whom? It seems that I did the application, but it also changed a lot in me.

My application is a solution to my personal problem. Working on it would be impossible to stand aside. The product grew and changed, it became better - and with it, and I.

So,
Part 1 - discoveries in the field of time and project management.
Part 2 - useful services and resources useful in the development and release process.
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Part 1. Notes on project management and time

I write about what I did, what I noticed and what worked. No claim to objective truth or full consideration of the issue.

The development was carried out without budgets, sponsors, mentors, investors, star performers or some other pleasant accelerators. He did his best, and therefore he valued every day and every ruble.

He started a "logbook", where he wrote down all the tasks, deadlines and goals. Distributed the roles and built the sequence of tasks. It turned out, of course, not perfect, but a comparison of the plan-fact and the recording of logs quickly allowed us to identify the weak spot and make adjustments to the development process.

Leafing through the "logbook", I hasten to share a list of my notes:

• Accurately determine for yourself: what do you want to get in the end. Insanely important. First of all. All follow-up is through the prism of the question: “should it be done to achieve a result?”.
• The second point follows from the first: set goals for yourself and the performers as clearly as possible. None: "draw a cool design by Monday" ... The answer to your question next Friday will be: "Yes, yes, the design ... I did not understand, but what exactly did you want?".
• To create a product, you need to work. Yes, that's so trite. You need to constantly think, analyze and work. Do not fantasize about the product, but to take any useful actions and put a lot of effort!
• No need to learn "for the future." I read, listen and watch only what I need now or as part of the project. Here, many will begin to argue, but I immediately fend: when you rely on your own budget, every minute is precious.
• Think, think and ask yourself how much the user will cost and how much he will bring to you. Sometimes, this simple question and calculations give a stunning result.

Such is the list from the "Captain Obvious". What is surprising is that for productive work you really do not need complex systems and secret theories. You just need to understand what you want to come to, what to do, whether or not what you are going to do will lead to the achievement of the goal. You need to work, think and just live your project, not torn by "everything".

Part 2. Useful Resources

It was necessary to do quickly, surely and as cheaply as possible. Here is my list of sources and tools that have helped a lot:

1. Habra . Subscribing to certain channels + searching for any question gives a lot of comprehensive information. In particular, the work of translating technology into Russian, as well as topics of other users about creating their products, played a huge role. By the way, help find the link? I downloaded the document, but I can’t upload the link in public - I lost it.

2. Apptractor - perhaps the main site for mobile development in runet. Lots of useful articles, links to the right resources and tools. For me personally, this site is a godsend.

3. Podcasts . This experience is not suitable for everyone, but for me this channel turned out to be incredibly convenient. Every day, some time passes in the car, and at this time I listen to the "transfer" of mobile development. While you are going to the office, you receive information, thoughts, tune in to the “working mode” and do not spend extra time on it. For myself, I chose the following: “How do games”, “AppTractor”, “mobile applications as a business”, “RuNetology”.

4. Localization . There is a service crowdin. There is strength in this approach. The only question is what are the challenges you face. In my case, it turned out that it is more profitable just to translate all the texts at once and not to spend money on it anymore. Not a lot of texts, not too many languages ​​selected. Used the service icanlocalize.com. Price 0.09 per word. Translation from native speakers, a huge selection of performers. I was pleased with the service. Recommend.

5. ASO . This topic is incredibly important and absolutely necessary. On this account in the network a lot of materials. In theory, everything is beautiful, until you start the selection of keywords. Here the difficulties begin. Often, the authors of miracle articles are silent about the tools for the selection of keys or talk about the service of Yandex or Google. Who has already tried, will understand. My find on this issue is the sensortower.com service. I activated a trial (free) subscription for a couple of weeks and got an excellent toolkit for analyzing competitors, finding and locating keys. Do not forget that if you do not unsubscribe, then after the trial period, the money will be written off.

6. Zuckerberg will call . I subscribed to a digest and every Friday I leaf through a summary of interesting materials. Often there are useful articles. If you do not abuse reading everything in a row, then the desired resource. Besides, this is where I found the designer. And so the other day was the third of the series about optimizing an application for storage - an excellent manual, everything is in order and correct.

7. Product Hunt . Incredibly much information, but if you carefully and selectively browse, you can find interesting services and solutions. I monitor my topic and among new products and free start-up services I find a lot of useful information. In particular, free mocap generators, services for creating screenshots, clock emulators and other joys.

8. Mokapy . It's funny, but until some time, I thought that my designers did it manually. dunnnk.com, mockuphone.com - excellent and absolutely free services. My discovery.

9. Sounds . freesound.org - in most cases, this service alone is enough to select sounds. Very simple and free.

findings

Going over these lists, I suddenly made a strange conclusion. For many months I have been collecting bumps, creating and failing projects one by one, with blood and then, step by step, comprehend such banal things and this is strange. “Beginners” or those who think they want to create a “cool app” appeal to me - and now I recognize myself in them and I hasten to share everything that I have learned and stumbled upon ...

I speak, write, argue, warn, advise ... but it looks like I am a coward, a skeptic, a pessimist, a miser, and I don’t understand anything at all in brilliant ideas.

Thus, the conclusion is simple : ready-made advice in its pure form is useless without personal experience. To create something really worthwhile, you need to start at least something to create at all. And then another and another, but here's a potoooom ...

Therefore, my advice to beginners is to save your time and try to start creating simpler projects, and only about what you are really strong at.

Yes, lyric end:

5217 pomodoro plus - with love for the time.