In our overview of How to Build a Mobile App in 7 Days we explained our high-level process:
1) Define & Design
2) Architect
3) Build v0.8 and get client feedback
4) Finish v0.9 and test
5) Deliver the final app and Celebrate!
This article discusses Step 5: Ship v1.0 in detail.
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At this point in our 7 day app building process, we have defined, designed, architected, and developed our app. We have tested things thoroughly and are left with a list of quick fixes and bugs that we have saved part of our final development day to tackle. After we have moved the bugs into Asana and prioritized them, we finish the final round of development and repeat QA. This process can take as little as an hour and as long as a day, depending on the complexity, security, and scalability needs of the product.
Fixing bugs is a quite different from cranking out code – it’s a different kind of problem solving. But, since we constantly perform QA throughout the sprint, we are typically familiar with the bugs and usually with how to fix them as well. Just one last note on bugs. There are always bugs. Always. Some developers get embarrassed or defensive about bugs, tweaks, edge cases, unintended side effects or whatever else you want to call a thing that the client didn’t want. Our strategy is to do our best to foresee the major issues before they happen and then to fix the ones we miss quickly without passing undue costs or a shoddy app on to our client.
From here, we make sure the client is happy and then ship the app. Shipping could mean to a private beta or to the App Store, but we have defined this up front along with our deadline. Prepping apps for the App Store is it’s own black art that I won’t get into here, but it’s best to leave at least 3 hours to prepare an app’s iTunes page and comply with all of Apple’s questions and forms so that they can review the app in a timely manner. Speaking of timing: It’s important to remember that for most of the history of the App Store apps have taken about a week to get through review. If the launch date is really important, we recommend submitting the initial version of an app to reviewers weeks or even months beforehand to reduce the risk of getting stuck in review.
We understand that our clients are trying to move mountains with their business. So we try to do the same for them. We also understand that what we do is very difficult, so we always take the time to pop a bottle (or 5) of champagne to celebrate what we accomplished in just 7 days.
If you are interested in learning more about the MetaNeer app development process, don’t hesitate to reach out. We don’t charge and we don’t bite.