What it takes to build an app

During a Summerschool at the Universiteit van Amsterdam I Introduced app development to students who were taking a course in programming. Most of them were new to the subject of programming, so I tried to give more background information instead of being technical.

Transcript

1. UvA Summerschool
   What it takes to build an app
   

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2. About Egeniq
   2
   “Smart apps for smart devices”
   

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3. Pathé Thuis App
   ‘App of the week’ at nu.nl
   4.5 (out of 5) stars at iCulture
   3
   

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4. Pathé Thuis App - Guiding principles
   4
   Simplicity
   Do one thing right (watching movies)
   User friendly
   Intuitive
   Quality
   

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5. Pathé Thuis App - Guiding principles
   5
   Modern features
   Integrations
   Easier for user / harder for developer
   

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6. Pathé Thuis App - Guiding principles
   6
   Top content
   ‘Premium’ look and feel
   

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8. 8
   Newsletters
   Wallets
   Streaming
   Trailers
   Ratings
   Tickets
   User data
   Metadata
   DRM
   Reviews
   App
   CRM
   SEO
   Movie
   Windows
   Payments
   Vouchers
   

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9. 9
   Graphical Design
   Interaction Design
   Functional Design
   Technical Design
   Security
   Hosting Maintenance
   Monitoring
   Marketing
   Sales
   Content Management
   Licensing
   Project
   App Review
   App
   APIs
   Performance Testing
   Multi Platform SCRUM
   

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10. Multi platform complexity
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    Platform
    ipad tv web xbox
    android ???
    

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11. The ‘What’ and the ‘Why’
    Functional Design
    

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13. Functional Design
    WHY > WHAT
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14. Expectation Management
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15. Scenario’s, abstracting features
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    My rented movies
    Featured movies
    Featured movie collections
    Recommendations
    Popular movies
    

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16. The ‘How’
    Interaction Design
    

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17. 17
    “Design is not just what it looks like.
    Design is how it works.”
    

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18. 18
    Frames of interaction
    Source: http://mattgemmell.com/2011/07/22/apps-vs-the-web/
    1 frame 2 frames 3 frames
    

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19. Making it pretty
    Graphical Design
    

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21. Under the hood
    Technical Design
    

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22. Abstractions
    22
    App Optimized API
    

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23. Architecture
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24. 24
    Multi Platform Development - Crossplatform tools
    Instant Coffee
    

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25. Building the app
    Development
    

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26. Communication is key
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27. SCRUM Process at Egeniq
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    ‣ Concept leads to an estimate of amount of work
    ‣ Initial estimates form a budget
    ‣ Budget is used to develop the app
    ‣ Keeping an eye on budget, changes during the project are welcomed
    ‣ Deadline and budget are defined up front, functionality will be flexible
    Concept
    Estimate Project
    Budget
    

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28. SCRUM Process at Egeniq
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    ‣ Develop in multiple cycles (sprints)
    ‣ Each sprint allows project improvements, new ideas, changes in
    features
    ‣ The last couple of sprints each deliver a working product that is ‘app
    store ready’
    ‣ While app is being reviewed, next sprint is executed
    Design
    Code
    Test Polish
    App Store
    Review
    Evaluate
    

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29. Development process
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    Develop
    Branch
    Feature
    Branch
    Code
    Commit
    Pull Request
    Code
    Review
    Merge
    New feature
    

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30. Social Coding
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31. A lesson from open source
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    Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow
    - Eric S. Raymond
    

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32. Continuous Integration
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    ‣ Automatic builds
    ‣ Build validation
    ‣ Build distribution
    ‣ https://buildozer.io
    

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33. Our responsibility as a developer
    ‣Respect user privacy
    ‣Collect only what you need
    ‣Be open about what you collect
    ‣Treat data responsibly
    ‣Write secure code
    ‣Follow common security best practices
    ‣Protect data (server, device, transport)
    ‣Don’t invent your own wheels (standards!)
    33
    

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34. Making sure it works right
    Testing (QA)
    

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35. ‣QA process is integral part of process
    •Quality is flexible
    ‣Testing method & practices
    •Automated testing (Unit testing)
    •Manual testing
    •User Interface testing
    •Client environment testing (OS versions, hardware)
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36. Getting it live
    Deployment
    

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37. App Review
    37
    Automated
    checks
    Manual
    Review
    Reject
    Ready for
    Sale
    Automated
    checks
    Ready for
    Sale
    Automated
    checks
    tip: http://appreviewtimes.com
    

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38. Performance & Scalability - RTL Nieuws App Launch
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39. Performance & Scalability - RTL Nieuws App Launch
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    ‣ News item had > 1 million TV viewers
    ‣ 40.000 installs on day 1
    •30% of which in 5 minutes following news item
    ‣ ~ 100.000 apps installed in week 1
    ‣ No 1 app store position for 16 days in a row
    ‣ Over 1.000.000 installs after a couple of years
    

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40. Predict Usage Patterns
    Everybody watches movies at roughly the same time
    Friday, Saturday after 20.30
    Holidays
    40
    

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41. Keeping it alive
    Maintenance
    

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44. You’re never alone
    Communities
    

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45. 45
    Communities
    appsterdam.rs cocoaheads.nl dutchaug.org
    

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46. If you become a programmer
    A couple of tips
    

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47. 47
    Passion
    

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48. Take It One Step At A Time
    

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49. Pick a new
    technology
    Explore
    Get
    Comfortable
    Master
    

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50. “Perfection is achieved, not when
    there is nothing more to add, but
    when there is nothing left to take
    away”
    Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    

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51. Shameless self promotion
    http://nwaysbook.com
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52. Inspiration
    52
    “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish”
    Steve Jobs 2005 Stanford
    Commencement Address
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
    

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53. Thank you! Questions?
    ivo@egeniq.com
    Ivo Jansch
    @ijansch
    

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