Product Approach to App Development: Going Beyond Coding

When you imagine your future app, do you envision it as a bunch of code lines? Or do you see a user with a device in hand solving the problem using the app you created?

Would you prefer a service provider who delivers the code or the one who takes into account the success of your future business? Taking a wild guess, your choice will fall on a company invested in your product at every level. In this case, a product approach to app development is your way to proceed.

The product approach to application development is when you take software, marketing research and marketing strategies, user personas, user stories, business models, expansion potential, and growth of the product as one whole. Our goal at Moqod is to consider each relevant facet of the future product, apply, experiment, and adjust it during the development process. In the end, we deliver a full-on working user-centric application/website. This goes way further than the number of code lines.

Let’s pull the curtain back a bit and look at the process of product development closer. Before diving into the phases and the lifecycle, let’s highlight the benefits of this approach:

1. For a top-notch application, you need the product approach

Imagine: you need a tailored suit for a special occasion. In theory, a suit equals cloth + buttons + threads + lining + shoulder pads. Technically, it IS a suit. Without a product approach, this is where it ends. You have several components that make a suit. To wear it, you need to do the rest yourself and/or look for several people who can do it for you.

We make the suit by starting with the pattern, we discuss the design you need for the particular event and audience, we adjust every millimeter for a perfect fit, we accessorize it for the occasion, and then deliver it in a beautiful wrapping. This is a product approach.

In other words: you come to us with your business idea, and we make it happen from A to Z and beyond. We put all we have to create a complete, exhaustive, and easy-to-use product.

2. Product approach allows agile and flexible development

One of the main distinctive features of the product approach is the use of the Agile software development method. It allows iterations, adjustments, and experiments at any stage of the process.

Very often the Agility leads to the fact that the final result might not be the way you see it in the beginning. We reassure you — it is a positive thing.

Uncertainty at the beginning of the process is a huge advantage because it gives you an enormous field for introducing innovation. Any change we make in the process brings us closer to what your goal audience wants.

3. Product approach relies only on users and market fit

Speaking about the goal audience, with the Agile approach, we promote the method where we create a feature and test it on real users as early as possible. Once we get the feedback and the results, we adjust, improve, and proceed. Or, we let go of irrelevant features and move on to a different test. This is how, by testing, upgrading, and removing we move to the final version of your product, the one that your user wants.

With the product approach, your software is always improving, up-to-date, and providing value to your users.

4. Product approach is very beneficial for design

Visually pleasing graphic design is one of our priorities when we are working on your product. With the product approach, we can create not only the aesthetics but also the proper UX/UI design within the app. We make sure your application is relevant and keeps pace with the current design trends. With product approach, testing, and data, the final result gives the user a smooth, seamless experience that will make him want to stay in the app. After all, the app has been created with the user in mind.

# The Product Development Process takes place in several phases

The common approach would be the following:

1. The first step is to always investigate and analyze the concept, the idea behind the product. We like to ask our potential clients three questions taken from the Hedgehog Concept. The answers we get will influence our decisions when creating a product, as we keep in mind your ambitious dreams, your growth points, your key metrics, and your goals.
2. We start with rapid prototyping. We quickly design a prototype that looks like a future product — basically, we simulate the product. Rapid prototyping is used for testing and validation during development, where users have a feel and touch of the product and can give their feedback. It is the first step in tailoring the app to fit the users’ needs. For these purposes, we use a variety of tools available online, like Figma, inVision, etc. You can take a look at them in our recent article about 5 tools to create MVP without coding.
3. To proceed with the development, we need to validate the product ideas — it’s in the name of the process. Product Ideas validation is crucial because it saves money and time in the long run. Together with our client, we collect the information around the ideas to make weighed decisions. We define what we want to validate, we evaluate the risks and possibilities, we decide on how we are going to test it, and then we either proceed with the idea or move on to a new one. One of the suchlike experiments as described in our article about embracing uncertainty and getting the most out of it.
4. To evaluate the product and validate the idea, we build an MVP(Minimum Viable Product). This is the most basic working prototype of your future solution. The testing will be done on this MVP and this is how we decide, based on the user behavior whether a certain feature should be part of the finished product.

5. Digital Product Development is another determining phase of the product approach. It helps maximize the user experience by improving the user’s journey within the solution. It focuses on the visual and the interface part. Again, we use the Agile approach to regularly test any new features, adjust, improve, pivot, and/or move forward.

6. We repeat this flow as many times as necessary to make sure the product we tailor is really matching your initial goal. Along the way, we provide all the necessary technical support to ensure a smooth and safe product launch.

Let us take a close look at the graph for a better understanding of the Agile and interactive approach.

# Product Approach Lifetime

In the beginning, there was the idea. It was brilliant, flawless, and perfect. Just like any other idea that hasn’t yet touched the reality of the technology, market, and demanding users.

To avoid the harsh strike from the cold market reality and turn the idea into a successful product, the product approach lifecycle takes us through several phases. Just like we build the house by putting the first bricks and carrying walls, we first build an MVP — the basic viable version of the product. We look at it from all sides and analyze how strong it is to carry the whole brilliant idea all the way to its perfect user.

We learn, analyze, perfect, and adjust. The initial idea might start looking different at this point and it is a great sign because it means we are being flexible and progressing, without being stuck on the initial plan.

If we see that the goal we set when we created the MVP has not been achieved, we go back. We see where it could have gone wrong, we pivot and introduce the changes. Analyze, rinse, change, repeat.

When the goal has finally been met, we can move on to the project release, and here the most interesting part begins. The actual project release is just 10% of the global success of the solution. It comes with goals that define its success. Take any goal that rhymes with success for your solution, and there is a very high chance this goal will be based on user behavior, and how the product fits the user expectations.

If the goal has not been met, we analyze the data, screen the user behavior, and we go back to basics to improve what we have learned. It is a very interactive process that has nothing to do with starting from scratch. We are repeating the process with experience as many times as we need to get a proper market fit.

This is how the Product Approach takes us to the successful implementation of a brilliant idea. Just like a diamond is a chunk of coal that has performed well under pressure, a perfect market fit is a brilliant idea that has been well-adjusted to the user by working on each facet.