Building an app
Why, what, and how?
Hi, I'm Chris
I build
I teach
I snap
I snap
Building apps is hard
Why build an app?
Validate
Validate
Automate
Save time & money
Test that you have a business
Dangers
"I'm going to use machine learning to..."
"Everyone is my customer!"
"I have everything planned out."
What kind of app?
Web
Mobile
Desktop
Chat (e.g. Facebook)
Voice (e.g. Alexa)
...
Payment model
Free
Paid
- Trial
- Subscription
- One-time
- Microtransactions
- Premium
- Marketplace
How?
Be data driven
- Don’t trust your instincts
- Don’t get feedback from friends and family
- Build relationships with potential users first
Be careful what you wish for
- More features, more complexity... more bugs
- Simple is often complex
- Complex is often simple
Learn to code
- Free Code Camp Lansing
- Lansing.Codes
- MI349 (Fall): Web Design and Development
- MI449 (Spring): Adv Web Dev and Databases
Books
- Technically Wrong, Sara Wachter-Boettcher
- Just Enough Research, Erika Hall
- Don't Make Me Think: Revisited, Steve Krug
Questions?
slides.com/chrisvfritz/msu-app-workshop
@chrisvfritz
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Building an app: why, what, and how?
By Chris Fritz
