Ship It!

A collection of lessons learned from building apps over the last 5 years. Presented at Renaissance.io 2014 in the Ship It! session. Presentation recording can be viewed at http://renaissance.io/2014/sessions/ship_it.

Transcript

1. M E A S U R E T W I C E , 
 C U T O N C E C Y N T H I A M A X W E L L ( @ U I C Y N T H I A ) L E S S O N S O N B U I L D I N G A P P S O F A L L S H A P E S A N D S I Z E S
2. S H I P P I N G
4. S O M E B A C K G R O U N D O N T H E S E L E S S O N S ‣ some were learned during development ‣ some only learned upon reflection many months later ‣ some I believe in but still struggle with today
5. W H O I S T H I S TA L K F O R ? ‣ developers working on teams of all sizes ‣ developing for someone else ‣ developing on a timeline
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12. “PhDs can’t ship” - P R O M I N E N T V E N T U R E 
 C A P I TA L I S T
13. B U I L D T H AT “ O N E T H I N G ” F I R S T A N D P R O T E C T I T AT A L L C O S T S L E S S O N 1
14. R E M O T E A P P Example: Directional Control
15. E X A M P L E : N O T E B O O K O P E N I T U N E S U A P P
16. E X A M P L E : N O T E B O O K O P E N I T U N E S U A P P
17. P I N O P E N I N G I N T E R A C T I O N P I N T E R E S T I PA D A P P 2 . 0
18. I T D O E S N ' T H AV E T O B E P E R F E C T T O S H O W O T H E R S L E S S O N 2
19. O P I N I O N S 
 A R E N O T I N S T R U C T I O N S L E S S O N 3
20. F O C U S O N W H AT T H E P R O D U C T I S , N O T W H AT I T I S N ’ T L E S S O N 4
21. S TAY I N A T I G H T F E E D B A C K L O O P W I T H D E C I S I O N M A K E R S L E S S O N 5
22. P E O P L E S E E P R I O R I T Y D I F F E R E N T LY L E S S O N 6
23. H AV E A P R O D U C T C H E C K L I S T A N D K E E P I T U P D AT E D L E S S O N 7 T H E H O M E R C O N C E P T T H E H O M E R P R O D U C T
24. M I N T F O R I P H O N E : O B J E C T I V E S ! • Provide an engaged segment of our user-base with information and tools to make informed financial decisions, on-the-go • Aim to have product ready for holiday 2008 • Use this window of opportunity to get the lead on the financial app category E X A M P L E
25. I T ’ S O K AY T O S TAY I N P R O T O T Y P E P H A S E L E S S O N 8
26. S H I P W H E N T H E P R O D U C T I S R I G H T, N O T J U S T W H E N I T D O E S N ' T S U C K L E S S O N 9
27. I T M I G H T E V E N B E B E S T T O N O T E V E N S H I P I T AT A L L L E S S O N 1 0
28. Lesson 9: Know when to hold ‘em Lesson 10: Know when to fold ‘em
29. – B E N S A N D O F S K Y “Shipping is about choosing the right bugs.”
30. shipping the product is just the beginning
31. W E ’ R E H I R I N G ! C A R E E R S . YA H O O . C O M F I N D M E O N L I N E ! C Y N T H I A M A X W E L L . T U M B L R . C O M @ U I C Y N T H I A