A lot of mobile app development projects fail to achieve market success for a lot of reasons. Lack of authenticity, poor UX design, unable to deliver value are among the reasons which are also the most prominent ones too. However, product failure is attributed mostly to flaws in the planning phase of the mobile app planning.
Quality mobile app planning starts with analytical thinking and pointing at a very particular need of the user the product intends to address. Proper planning clarifies that need and guides the development team towards creating a successful mobile app.
Making a product requirements document (PRD) will help the development team avoid common product strategy mistakes. This is the best starting point for any mobile project in development.
As determined by experts from an app development Toronto company in Edmonton, here is a list of six mobile app planning errors that need to be avoided at all costs:
**Taking a lot of time to start
**A lot of mobile app projects take loads of time to start. The fast rate of disruption can often leave companies scrambling. Creating future-oriented product roadmaps as well as continuing to deliver existing business value is a tricky job. In a lot of instances, companies are often unable to adapt fast enough.
Additionally, technological change is difficult to predict. This makes it hard to convince shareholders to invest in development projects which aim at addressing future scenarios.
The longer they sit with their idea, the more difficult it becomes to fully define a functional and feasible framework for development and create a convincing business case. That being said, the solution is not to jump prematurely in mobile app development before the product is defined adequately. This can be bad for the product’s overall success.
**Confusion between customer and product requirements
**In the early stages of planning product requirements, overall product vision often is unclear. It is challenging to find out the features and functionality needed to deliver user value. Also, it is never easy to see the complete range of technical prospects.
It then lies in the hands of the product team to guiding clientele through the product requirements planning in discovering the possible development solution.
A proper product definition stage comprises translating customer requests into concrete product specifications, which is further understood by development engineers. The product management has a responsibility to understand the target market, its needs (comprehensively) and to combine the possibilities with what is best to create real problem-solving products and solutions.
A Product Requirements Document (PRD) serves to translate development teams’ requests and clientele needs into detailed product specifications. Ideas in the beginning tend to be scattered and not precise as well as lacking technicalities. Communicating with the product team is crucial.
If there is no proper communication, then the firm won’t be able to identify the various implications of features on the product’s performance.
**Creating product requirements in a void
**Mobile app products are complicated. They incorporate multiple systems, subsystems and functionalities. Their requirements are complex as well. The trap organizations fall into is a consequence of a lack of diversity within the team (skill based).
Product teams should comprise of many people in many different areas of expertise: product owners, product managers, developers, architects, engineers as well as designers for User Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) as well as other needed people. This ensures that different perspectives and opinions are brought to light, enabling a project to be thought out well.
**Often mistaking innovation for value
**A lot of firms rush to incorporate innovation in their development which then inflates the development costs. Just because a particular feature, functionality or a set of both can be added does not mean they should add them.
Emerging technologies and capabilities can at times create panic and cause implementation of new requirements without a second thought. This scenario thus stresses importance of proper planning in mobile app development.
Diligently following a product requirements document (PRD) allows for fewer mistakes to be made between development handoffs and often serves as a reference to determine to find out if altering the product’s features is necessary or not.