Why ideas are not enough - a view from developers
There are many companies that are developing mobile applications and applications for social networks. Often customers come to them with an Idea. A lot has already been written about the fact that Idea alone is not enough, but I decided to write about it a little from the other side.
Clients are often asked to create an application or service without a clear understanding of what they want to see in the end. This is essentially a normal situation. Such clients can always be helped to determine, help to write a description of the project and write a technical task for them. However, there are times when this is not possible. These are cases when the client does not have a business, and he expects that his project will bring money. These are just the cases when the client has only an Idea.
Why in such cases is cooperation doomed to failure?
Compare, there is a usual situation when a customer comes to a developer company and asks, say, an iPhone application that will reflect the functions of its website, but for those who are not near a computer. In this case, the developers understand well why the client needs this application and how it will be used. Even if the customer has a vague idea of what his application should look like, developers will be able to tell him this, and write a technical task for him because they understand the ultimate goals.
And there is another situation. The customer asks for a service that he thinks will become very popular and will earn millions. For example, he orders online poker, but not simple, but with “social” elements, the ability to “help friends” and “play clans”. At the same time, the customer does not have managerial skills and any experience in the IT sphere. He has only an idea and vague ideas about how the product should look. He is not able to formulate clear product requirements. In fact, the developers are completely faced with the task of creating a product from scratch, based on the idea of the customer. But the developers have already seen a lot of things, and understand that a great many online poker players have already been created, and another such poker, albeit with minor changes, will not become popular. Therefore, they don’t believe in the great idea of the customer, and therefore they don’t see the ways how his service will make money. And therefore, they will not be able to tell the customer how and what needs to be done. They will not be able to put together a technical task, and as a result a bad project will turn out, and the task of any developer - no matter how pathetic it may sound - to create good projects. Well, just if only because in this case their portfolio will consist of good projects :)
Therefore, even in cases where in addition to the Idea there is a development team, the carrier of the Idea needs to clearly and thoroughly understand what he wants to see in the end, and how it will bring him money
Clients are often asked to create an application or service without a clear understanding of what they want to see in the end. This is essentially a normal situation. Such clients can always be helped to determine, help to write a description of the project and write a technical task for them. However, there are times when this is not possible. These are cases when the client does not have a business, and he expects that his project will bring money. These are just the cases when the client has only an Idea.
Why in such cases is cooperation doomed to failure?
Compare, there is a usual situation when a customer comes to a developer company and asks, say, an iPhone application that will reflect the functions of its website, but for those who are not near a computer. In this case, the developers understand well why the client needs this application and how it will be used. Even if the customer has a vague idea of what his application should look like, developers will be able to tell him this, and write a technical task for him because they understand the ultimate goals.
And there is another situation. The customer asks for a service that he thinks will become very popular and will earn millions. For example, he orders online poker, but not simple, but with “social” elements, the ability to “help friends” and “play clans”. At the same time, the customer does not have managerial skills and any experience in the IT sphere. He has only an idea and vague ideas about how the product should look. He is not able to formulate clear product requirements. In fact, the developers are completely faced with the task of creating a product from scratch, based on the idea of the customer. But the developers have already seen a lot of things, and understand that a great many online poker players have already been created, and another such poker, albeit with minor changes, will not become popular. Therefore, they don’t believe in the great idea of the customer, and therefore they don’t see the ways how his service will make money. And therefore, they will not be able to tell the customer how and what needs to be done. They will not be able to put together a technical task, and as a result a bad project will turn out, and the task of any developer - no matter how pathetic it may sound - to create good projects. Well, just if only because in this case their portfolio will consist of good projects :)
Therefore, even in cases where in addition to the Idea there is a development team, the carrier of the Idea needs to clearly and thoroughly understand what he wants to see in the end, and how it will bring him money