why do mobile projects fail?
TRANSCRIPT
Why do mobile projects fail?
Presentation & Discussion
Matthew Langham
Indiginox GmbH
Warning: There is no source code in this presentation!
Short answer
• Because it’s harder than it looks!
• Thanks and have a good journey home....
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cameronparkins/3220496811/
Matthew Langham
• Co-Founder - Indiginox GmbH
• Independent enterprise consultant for Mobile strategies
• Mobile project management for Mobile operator and corporate customers
• Mobile development
• Author & Speaker
• @silentpenguin or @indiginox
Goal
• Pin needles into the map of mobile project development to provide you with some “focus points”
•
Why do mobile projects fail?
• Of course - for the same reasons other IT projects fail ...
• Too little stakeholder involvement
• Poor or unrealistic requirements
• Unrealistic time scales
• Scope creep over the development period
• No management of change control
• Quality assurance
But most often ..
• “No matter what they tell you, it's always a people problem.” • Gerald Weinberg (The secrets of consulting)
• Eric Schmidt (Google) said: “Mobile First!”
• I say: “Think First!”
Mobile projects present additional challenges
• Challenges affect the different phases of a project
• Conception
• Implementation & Testing
• Deployment
• Business
• The biggest mistakes are made before a line of code is written
Conception
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mukluk/174688752
Do you know what you’re doing?
• Starting the project without understanding what you are dealing with can be deadly
• “We’ve bought 500 iPads - and now we need an app!”
• “We need a native app for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry - oh - and Windows Phone”
• “Have you thought about a cross-platform Web app?”
• “huh”?
• “Our budget is xyz € and we need two apps that work on both iOS and Android finished by the 1st of December - can you do it? We haven’t completed the requirements list but we know someone who knows someone who did a prototype in 5 days”
Are you sure?
• Functional requirements from people who don’t understand the technology
• “Build a mobile widget that is just like ‘need for speed’”
• “Build an Android Facebook home-screen widget for this low cost device that is just as fast as the native app on my high-end device”
• “I want the App store to launch with 1.000 Apps!”
The challenge
• How can we educate all project stakeholders so that they know enough about the technology to make informed decisions?
The perspective challenge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Handshake_(Workshop_Cologne_%2706).jpeg
Technology “ripening”
• Operating systems for mobile devices are often released too early
• Very short release cycles during device and system development
• Often several times a week
• Functionality comes and goes depending on the release
• Example: Changing the browser rendering engine during device development
• “iOS devs: is it just me or is iOS5 getting even more buggy with each beta release?“ - kevinrose (01.09.2011)
Technology influence
• Vendors and operators influence what goes into the device (and operators own the network)
• Don’t make assumptions!
• The underlying operating system plays a major role for your application
• Even if you’re designing a Web app
Who’s leading Who?
• Mobile technology is still developing very rapidly
• Make sure your project won’t be obsolete by the time it’s finished
• Plan iterations to make sure you keep up with new developments
• Did you develop for WebOS?
• Today, software innovation outpaces network innovation by at least a factor of five: application developers often reach market in only three to six months, while operators take 18-24 months to launch a new service.
• Mobile-Developer_Econonomics_2011 (VisionMobile)
Technology cracks
• Fragmentation will remain the problem
• And I don’t just mean Android...
• e.g. Mobile browsers or BlackBerry operating systems
Choosing resources
• “Developers, Developers, Developers!”
• “Readily available” mobile development is still relatively new
• Downloadable SDK
• Accessible devices
• Testing via simulators
• It’s difficult to find an all-rounder
• iOS, Android and BlackBerry please
Choosing resources
• Google releases first “early look” Android SDK
• November 2007
• Apple released the first beta version of the native iOS SDK
• March 2008
• So, don’t go looking for the mobile developer with 10 years of Android development expertise!
• And also don’t trust anyone that experienced
• Choose motivated and technically savvy resources with “mobile” experience and an eye for the challenges
Choosing resources
Choosing resources
• Does your developer really know mobile?
• “They don’t seem to grasp that one must understand the native environment you’re working in before going ahead and writing a program to run within it.”
• Andy Firth - http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/08/06/demise-low-level-programmer/
Choosing resources
• Developers are increasingly experimenting with more and more platforms
• Developers use on average 3.2 platforms concurrently based on a sample of 850+ online respondents. This represents a 15% increase from last year’s figure, indicating how developers are more willing to experiment with new platforms and actively transitioning to new ones
• Mobile-Developer_Economics_2011 (VisionMobile)
Choosing resources
• But it’s not just developers...
• Great application user interface design
• Not every UI designer knows mobile
• Photoshop is not a mobile development tool!
• Find designers who understand the technology implications
• resolution, screen size
• touch vs. non-touch
• mobile vs. tablet
• browser vs. app flow
• You attended the sessions on these topics - right?
Choosing resources
• Find experienced mobile project managers, designers, developers and testers who can lead the team and act as mentors
Implementation & Testing
Before we begin
• Storyboard the application using mockups
• Use a tool like Balsamiq
• Test out your concepts with a target audience
Before we begin
• Design the application with an understanding of the technology you’re targeting for
• “Well it looked fine on an iPhone...” -
• “But we were targeting a BlackBerry with OS 5”
• Did you remember not just to design for portrait mode?
Before we begin
• Make your design “intelligent”
• Use things like CSS media queries to be responsive
• Computers aren’t the only piece of hardware with a web browser anymore
• Look at “Mobile First” and add other layers as needed
• Make sure your application is designed to look as though it is doing something
• Mobile networks can be slow - so pretend they’re not and cache if you can!
Before we begin
• A single bad screen can cost millions of dollars in lost revenue and brand value
• You get only one chance to make a first impression
•
Mobile UI Performance
• http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/07/18/seven-guidelines-for-designing-high-performance-mobile-user-experiences/
Mobile Browsers
• “I thought everyone used WebKit now”
• Yes, well, not quite - around 55%
• And they are all different!
• http://www.quirksmode.org/webkit_mobile.html
Did you pick the right technology?
• Web Apps vs. Native Apps
Web Apps vs Native Apps
• Web Apps
• Advantages
• Developers only need know-how in HTML, JavaScript and CSS
• A single application can run on a variety of devices
• Libraries available to make customization easier (e.g. SenchaTouch, jQuery Mobile )
• Applications can be customized for individual resolutions and orientation if needed (landscape vs. portrait)
• HTML5 and browser implementations are becoming increasingly standardized
• Deployment to a Web Server instead of app store, updates are immediately available
Web Apps vs Native Apps
• WebApps
• Disadvantages
• Browser != Browser
• User interaction / interface can be limited compared to a native application
• Performance of things like transitions, animations can be poorer
• Integration of device specific technologies (camera, GPS) is lacking
• Evaluate using something like PhoneGap
• Enabling “native” look and feel (like swipe on iOS) may mean including several different libraries
• Discoverability (how do customers find your app)
Web Apps vs Native Apps
• Native Apps
• Advantages
• Performance on specific devices
• e.g. Angry Birds on HTC Wildfire
• Usability, Design can be implemented specifically for a device
• Integration of things like camera, GPS, device notifications
• Integrated development tools (design, test, simulator)
• Discoverability through app store
• Sell apps for $$$
Web Apps vs Native Apps
• Native Apps
• Disadvantages
• Loss of customer retention through app store model
• Apps need to be developed for individual platforms (higher skill level)
• Deployment of apps for a targeted audience (e.g. enterprise) is difficult
• Updates via store (iOS) take longer
• App store “owner” can refuse your app
Web Apps on Steroids
• Phone Gap• Provides access to native functionality for Web Apps
•
No silver bullet!
• Don’t let anyone tell you it’s “either or”
• It should always be a well-informed use-case based decision
What type of App?
http://www.zokem.com/2011/03/youtube-top-installed-app-facebook-leads-in-unique-users/
Testing
• Testing a mobile application is time consuming
• Simulators are available
• Often part of the SDK (e.g. iOS)
• HTML 5 - Ripple - http://ripple.tinyhippos.com/
• Testing on actual devices is mandatory!
• Make sure you test on the correct OS version
• Also consider services such as DeviceAnywhere.com
Testing
• Make sure you know which device your boss / customer is using - and test first on that one
Testing
Engaging Mobile developers• Getting others to increase the value of your
offering by building an application eco-system around your core business
• Provide APIs into your data (REST based)
• Provide a signup-service for applications (signup, get key etc.)
• Provide an SDK including a sample application
• Provide support (e.g. via a google news group)
• Highlight good applications on a showcase Web-site / & go to conferences
• Make sure communication is 2-way
• Make sure you have a channel from the outside into your company
Deployment
http://www.flickr.com/photos/isawnyu/4566381520
Deployment
• Deploying an app into an App store takes time and effort
• Plan for signing (if required)
• Plan for the acceptance period (dependent on App store)
• Plan for iterations as you need to update assets such as screenshots, descriptions (multi-language anyone?)
• Is the App store set up to support the devices you wrote the app for
• If the App store is available in different countries - have you tested with foreign sim-cards? Do you know what the limitations of those countries are?
War of the App stores
• App Stores today: 121 (August 2011, Wiconnector)
• But growth is slowing!
• And quite a few will disappear again
• Whitelabel solutions (from companies such as Appia) mean that the variety of App stores will increase
• e.g. Appia powers the new Opera app store
War of the App stores
• Which one?
• Reach
• Billing process
• How attractive is the app store (i.e. volumes)
• How good is the revenue share and overall revenue
• How easy is it to upload an app
Not just an App store
• Complex infrastructures
• Upload platform
• Shop / Discovery platform
• Recommendation platform
• Search Engine
• Download platform
• Routing gateways
• Billing system
• Reporting system
• SAP
Business
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59937401@N07/5474437939
“Your cell phone has more computing power than all of NASA in 1969.
NASA launched a man to the moon. We launched a bird into pigs.”
(via Twitter)
Hot sellers
• Angry Birds
• Over 250 million downloads total (June 11)
• 80% of owners do updates
• 30 million downloads on Android (March 11)
• $1 million / month through ad revenue on Android
• Advantage - turnover through whole app lifecycle (including free updates)
• iOS - Sold for a price - only monetization on initial purchase
• Now additional monetization through in-app purchase - Mighty Eagle
• Costs € 0,79 and has been downloaded over 2.000.000 times
• ... and then ... cuddly toys, movie tie-in (“Rio”), TV series ..
• So it was easy .... right?
Hot sellers
• Angry Birds .. not quite so simple..
• Rovios 52nd title
• Titles written for companies such as EA, Digital Chocolate
• Initially spent € 100.000 to develop Angry Birds
• When it was released in December 2009 in the English speaking App Store - it was a flop!
• Tough to break into that market from the get-go
• Rovio tried to get a following in the smaller markets
• Sweden, Denmark and Greece
• Then published via Chillingo and with Apple’s help featuring the app on the UK App Store - launched new versions in February 2010
• And the rest is history
Hot sellers
• What makes Angry Birds successful?
• Simple to play - difficult to master
• Constant rewards in the game
• Active continuous relationship with the customer
• Regular updates for free and new versions with a theme (halloween etc.)
• Cared about feedback from the customers
• Phoenix bird that ignites the structure was a suggestion from a customer
• Rovio were able to create a “buzz” around the game
Before you get too excited
Before you get too excited
• The average smartphone user in a study added just 2.5 new apps per month.
• 37 percent of users added no new apps at all.
http://www.wirelessintelligence.com - Study was based on an analysis of more than 2,100 smartphone users (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Symbian) in the US and UK during January 2011
Keep track of your users
• App Analytics
• Track app users, sessions, platforms, demographics, ...
• Solutions
• Flurry.com
• Localytics.com
• Google Analytics
• Let Facebook do the work
It’s just business
• “Mobile apps aren’t a get rich quick scheme where you can be oblivious to best practice. “
• “Usual business rules apply and there are extra mobile rules for the unwary.”
• Simon Judge
Mobile in the enterprise
• Consumerization of the enterprise
• Employees expect the same seamless experience with mobilized enterprise applications as they have with the ones they use privately
• This is further enhanced by “bring your own device” policies
• Porting an enterprise application UI to a mobile device can be challenging
• Additional enterprise challenges
• Resistance to change
• Legacy systems, data security, personal data ....
• Limited peer sharing of experience or “best practices”
Thanks for staying to the end!
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better” - Samuel Beckett
photo on slide 1 (c) Frank Köhntopp - used with permission - http://www.flickr.com/photos/koehntopp/