No software projects can start and develop without clearly defined project specifications. Actually, the process of writing requirements for a mobile application, for example, takes the most time of the entire development process like writing university theses for writers from Best Writers Online. It is crucial to dedicate thorough attention to ensure the app idea is worthy and find ways to differentiate from competitors on the market.
If we talk about mobile app development, foremost, it is vital to define what platform you would like to submit it to—App Store using iOS, Google Store using Android, or build a cross-platform solution that will be available for both marketplaces. So, further, we would like to take a closer look at the essence of writing requirements and technical documentation for mobile app development and what information these documents need to include.
Goals of mobile app requirements
So the first question we would like to discuss is why mobile app requirements are so pivotal for successful app development and launch. Each mobile application goes through a complete software development life cycle that consists of the discovery stage, architecture, design, development and testing, launch, and maintenance. And the discovery stage, the stage where the requirements are collected, is the most crucial as other stages depend on it. So, the main goals of writing requirements for mobile applications are:
- Outlining the whole project scope which includes technologies, number of engineers, number of hours, deadlines, and approximate estimation;
- Providing designers with references and suggestions to receive the expected result;
- The app requirements depict the goals of the solution, thereby determining testing cases to deliver a high-grade solution;
- Simplify the process of future code reviews and its improvements as each action of developers is documented;
- Simplify the process of integration of the mobile application with new features in the future.
How to write mobile app requirements properly
Generally, software houses have certain templates for writing the requirements depending on the type of solution you need for your business. These templates include the points of pivotal information about the project to start the actual development stage. Here are the core stages and pieces of information mobile app specification documents have to contain.
Market research
If you decide to develop a mobile app for your business, the first stage in this process is conducting research on the market and among competitors. It is crucial to ensure that your mobile app idea is unique on the market, will be in demand for your future users, and will be capable of keeping up with the marking rapid changes, trends, and competitors. After the mobile app idea is verified, then it is high time to continue defining the requirements for your future solution. These requirements are commonly based on your ongoing business aims and needs, as well as suggestions from your development team on what features and other staff should be included in your mobile app.
Business goals and requirements
Despite the software solution you and your development team are going to develop, every development process starts with the discovery stage. The first step in the discovery stage is assessing your business and its processes in order to reveal its weak sides, the main problems, your staff, and the struggle on a daily basis, and convert these problems into solutions after software implementation.
Technical documents of mobile software project
After the app idea is completely verified based on your business needs and requirements at the moment, the development team is accountable for writing down all your expectations and requirements in the technical documentation of the software project, just like copywriters from the writing service Trust My Paper. Basically, it is the same information converted into a more technical language to be clear for future executors, meaning engineers involved in your project development. Basically, it is the same information about being converted into a more technical language to be clear for future executors, meaning engineers are involved in your project development.
Common project technical documentation includes everything about the project. It contains information about the function that would be included in the mobile app, outlines the members of the development team, the number of hours that will be required to develop MVP as well as the complete solution required budget, technologies that are going to be used, and so on. Technical documentation is very important for the successful development process and in the next point, we would like to take a closer look at what mobile app requirements are commonly recorded in these documents.
Sprints, epics, and user stories of the mobile app development
After the technical specifications of the entire project are collected, analyzed, and written into the project documentation, the next step is dividing the entire project into sprints. Commonly, each sprint is responsible for a certain part of the functionality of the mobile application. In turn, its sprint consists of epics and user stories. Epic is responsible for each separate function of the mobile application.
For example, it can be the registration process. Each epic commonly describes what actions the user needs to do to execute the action, and receive the feature they expect in our case—signing in. The same approach is applied to each function and group of functions within the project so that further, the project could be divided into tasks for engineers, including the time, budget, and deadlines for each of them.
Designing the mobile app prototype
After you as a client and the development team are completely on the same page and understand the goal of the application and the final solution you expect to receive, the designers are accountable for depicting the wireframes of how your mobile application will function, and how it’s the sign will look like.
Surely, each page design of the mobile application needs to be approved by you and made according to your brand book and your suggestions. If you're not sure that the design for your mobile app will be the most suitable for your business, you can dedicate this task to designers, completely send the received prototypes and make the adjustments if there are some.
To sum up
Writing mobile app requirements is the first but the most important stage in building this type of software solution. It generally builds the action plan for the entire development team, assigning responsibilities and tasks to each engineer. These requirements are variable and can change during the development process. But if you pick a reliable software development partner, you will not feel the difference in deadlines or budget.
