Learning from users,
adapting as we go,
we offer agile development.
The most common failure in web application development is spending money on features that users do not want.
Development requires substantial resources—people, money and time. We believe it is essential to close the gap between creators’ enthusiasm and the problems users actually want to solve, so an application does not become a beautifully built but deserted place. That belief guides the process below.
Our development process
We listen to users from the stage of deciding what to create,
starting small and growing through the steps below.
-
- Form a hypothesis about the idea Idea Verification
Using a Lean Canvas, we create a Plan A outlining the application: whose problems its features will solve, its position as a business and how it will generate revenue.
-
- Test whether we have identified the right problem Customer-Problem Fit (CPF)
Our own ideas always look attractive to us. Yet research suggests that 70% of application features are never used. Developing without testing an idea is unlikely to produce an application users find compelling.
Through research with the users identified in Plan A, we close the gap between our feature ideas and the problems users actually want to solve. Masayuki Tadokoro, The Science of Entrepreneurship
Published by Nikkei BP- Understand the target users
- Using personas, we research target users’ working styles, lifestyles, interests and preferences, then share our findings with the team.
- We use empathy maps to understand how users actually think and act.
- Customer journey maps help us build a concrete picture of how users discover the application and in which situations they use it.
- Understand the problems users truly face
- We test our ideas using the Javelin Board framework.
- Based on step 1, we brainstorm and develop the ideas further.
- We interview users again using the ideas from step 2.
- We analyze the interview findings using the KJ Method and move to the next step.
-
- Refine how we solve the problem Problem-Solution Fit (PSF)
The previous steps tested whether the application addresses the right problems. Here, we focus on how to solve the user problems we have identified, including the actual features.
- We identify the features to develop and create a prototype Kanban board showing tasks, goals and progress.
- We interview users to find out whether they would actually want to use those features.
- To align the team, we create an elevator pitch that explains the application’s strengths in 30 seconds.
- We create a screen flow and a UX blueprint for the application.
- We build a prototype from the UX blueprint.
- We refine the prototype by having users try it and share their feedback.
-
- Start small and move closer to users’ ideal experience Product-Market Fit (PMF)
- We release an MVP—a Minimum Viable Product—with only the essential features.
- Using a Sprint Canvas, we incorporate user feedback and run short, rapid improvement cycles to refine the application.
- We add qualitative insights from user interviews and continue improving.
-
- Put the business on a sustainable path Improve unit economics
We use growth marketing and ongoing application improvements to lower customer acquisition cost (CPA) and increase customer lifetime value (LTV).
How we approach development
Software development traditionally followed a waterfall approach: requirements, design, implementation and testing in one large cycle. However, this approach had the following problems.
- Once requirements are finalized, they are difficult to change, preventing teams from incorporating what they learn and the ideas they discover during development.
- A working product is completed only at the end, so user feedback comes after completion. Any gap between what users wanted and what was built is discovered only then.
- Once the budget and deadline are fixed, they cannot change, encouraging vendors to include excessive financial and scheduling buffers. As a result, development cannot achieve the speed today’s businesses require.
Agile development, as described in our development process above, emerged to address these problems.
Among agile approaches, we recommend Scrum a method that grew from Toyota’s production management approach. In Japan, it has already been adopted by companies including Nikkei, Recruit and Fujitsu.
How we bill
For web application development, we do not use the typical waterfall billing model in which requirements are fixed at the outset and an initial development cost plus monthly maintenance fee is set.
In agile development, requirements evolve flexibly as we receive user feedback. We therefore agree a fixed monthly fee with you. Within phases 1 to 5 of our development process, we provide detailed tasks and estimates, then decide together what to do each month within the agreed monthly budget.
With flexible agile requirements, estimates do not need the large contingency buffers used in fixed-budget projects to cover uncertainty. Over the longer term, this usually results in lower charges for clients than a fixed-budget approach.
We can provide a rough estimate for the application’s first release or adjust tasks to fit a maximum budget. Please discuss your needs with us.
Technical specifications
- Project management tools
- GitHub
- ZenHub
- Trello
- Jira
- Communication tools
- Slack
- Zoom
- Supported technologies and frameworks
- HTML/CSS, Sass/JavaScript
- WordPress
- jQuery
- Nuxt.js, Vue.js
- Firebase
- Ruby on Rails
- Heroku
- HubSpot
