Having a good idea is not enough. Learning to program and mastering a language completely is not enough. Investing time and money in such a project... isn't enough either. The new miniseries "How to Develop an App" by Tom Scott recommends that you don't develop an app, but if you want to go down that path anyway, its 15 episodes will teach you what you should know, and what you didn't think you needed to know.
If you're thinking that creating a mobile app is going to solve your financial situation and turn you into a superstar overnight... don't do it. Thousands of programmers imagined the same before you, and almost all of them failed. I say "almost" because there are a few dazzling exceptions that simply exploded. Do you remember Flappy Bird and its $50,000 a day? The problem is that everyone aims to be the "almost", the glitch in the system, and no one has the complete puzzle.
How to develop an application?
That's what Tom Scott tries to explain in his new miniseries "How to Develop an App". Believe it or not, his central suggestion is "don't make an app". And the title of the first episode is "Developing an app is a terrible idea". From the start, it's evident that Tom had a very bad experience creating an app, but his intention is for you to learn from his mistakes and get all the data he had to learn the hard way. The episode list goes like this:
- Developing an app is a terrible idea: But here's how you can do it
- How to know if the idea behind your app is good
- Where do you want your app to live?
- Where are your first 1,000 users?
- "Minimum Viable Product"
- How to talk to a programmer without looking stupid
- How to make your app less frustrating
- How to connect your app to the real world
- Connecting your app to the cloud
- How to know if people can actually use your app
- How to make money with your app
- How to make sure your app "isn't evil"
- How to make your app charming
- How to survive on the App Store
- How to keep your app alive... or kill it
Now, if you expect high-profile technical content where you have to write code at every step, you'll be disappointed. "How to Develop an App" begins with an interview with Adrian Hon, the creator of Zombies, Run!, an app for iOS and Android that turns the benefit of going for a run into a survival game. Zombies, Run! has more than five million downloads, so you might want to pay attention. One of the most interesting points they discuss is knowing your limits: The idea can be very good, but if you don't have the team or the money to carry it out, you may want to recalibrate your goals, or explore other resources (e.g., Kickstarter).
In short, "How to Develop an App" is a miniseries worth your time, even if you're not planning to create an app. The total comes to two and a half hours, but they pass much faster than you imagine.
