How to Plan Applications Fallon Brainfood @Planning-ness Conference, Denver

Thursday Sep 30 - Friday, October 01, 2010

Hi. I'm Aki Spicer.

Director of Digital Strategy

Veteran Planning Director

Blogger

Author

User

"Officer of Good" for Planning For Good

Forging standards and practices for social media analytics

Bringing planning into the age of participation

So, what’s a "Digital Strategist?"

Simply: bringing grounded creativity to

technological opportunity.

Computer Artistes Code Monkeys

Web Entertainment (ideas, not solutions)

Transactions

(efficiency, not ideas)

Social

Content Strategy

Mobile and Everyware

Data Analytics

User Insights

Big Picture Integration

Tools and Apps

Innovation Pipeline

I’ll share some things I’ve learned about adapting

marketing strategies and creativity to technology and specifically planning and selling applications.

1. Question “Why?”

2. Kill the Unicorns

3. Now Bootstrap Yourself

4. Find Tonto(s)

5. Stop Jabbering and Prototype Already!

6. Collect the Check

7. Resist Feature-Bloat

8. Stop Jabbering and Launch Already!

9. Doh! Didn’t See That Coming…

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Liminal Space

Problem: We’ve always trafficked in known

quantities: finite :15s and :30s, 728x90s, Half Pages and Full Pages, Billboards, etc.

But this era of social, mobile tools, stunt events,

programs, communities and post-digital ideas are

unknown quantities. And many agencies are not necessarily armed to succeed.

Problem: By most measures, the classic corporate

organization (yours?) was developed in stark contrast to the new entrepreneurial ethos of tech

“start-ups”.

Yet, it is this entrepreneurial spirit that will

move us forward to innovation and success.

Problem: You still likely work in a big organization.

And your customer, your client, and your company’s

very future demands new approaches...

What is an “app”?

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A Tool.

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A Rich Feature.

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A Game.

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A Service.

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A Shortcut.

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Post-Digital Hybrid.

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Application=Advanced Functionality.

Not solely iPhone and Facebook…

Could be a banner or dotcom rich feature

Could be a feature add to existing platform or game

May be more than code – actual soldering wires…

Always a singular (or multiple-related) specific task

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Application=Advanced Functionality.

Unique Staffing Expertise

Due Dilligence

Resource Commitment

Distribution/Platform Considerations

Usage Considerations/UX

Money

Client Buy-in 19

Implications:

So you think you want to build an app...

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1. Question “Why?”

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Be critical, harsh even, to get your app idea

articulated and differentiated from the thousands that may already exist.

“Guess what? This app you guys describe already exists…My work here is done.”

“Actually, the app you describe is off-brief and off-brand…Thank you and good night, sirs.”

Considers

Resource-suck

Risk – millions of costly apps die daily

Demands creative financing in a classic ad budget model

Is this just merely an agency or brand manager “Portfolio Hit” or

“News Headline?”

Competition - on the web, everybody competes against everybody

Oh, and App Stores do not approve on your schedules

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2. Kill the Unicorns.

Unicorns look so rad on paper – unfortunately you

can never build one. These ideas are silly, delusional, impossible. Spot the unicorns. Kill them.

“Um, do you even know how App Store really works, dude?”

”I think I know a guy, lets call him…”

“I found a company who does this, lets ask them…”

“It costs what?!?”

“And the campaign launches in 3 weeks…”

Discern “crazy-stupid” ideas from “crazy like a fox” ideas

From “no” and “yes, but”…” to “yes, and…”

Triangulate your idea against the platforms available

Know your customer – what are their tech abilities?

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“Make

Something

That People

Want.” Paul Graham

Venture Capitalist, Co-founderY Combinator

Stephen Anderson’s Mental Notes cards offers

approachable brainstorm sparks for concepting or detailing your app.

“…52 ways to apply the psychology of

human behaviour to the design of Web sites,

Web apps, and software applications.”

Excerpted from Stephen Anderson’s Mental Notes card series http://www.getmentalnotes.com

3. Bootstrap Yourself

Bootstrap Yourself: v. to promote or develop by initiative

and effort with little or no assistance

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

(ish) Ok, I made this up…

No one will save you. Embrace a hustler mentality

beyond your classic planning chores – generating insights are not enough.

Visionary Lion Tamer Huckster Pimp Evangelist UXpert

Oh, and don’t forget your day job, too!

Seth Godin offers a good pep-talk on behaving

intrapreneurially to get a project thru the system.

“This isn’t about having a great idea…this is

about taking initiative and making things

happen.”

4. Don’t be a fuckin’ Lone Ranger! Find Tonto(s).

Buddy up with your tech leads, your developers,

even orgs outside your walls.

Art director and copywriter are not enough – get a team

Assess your internal organization’s skillsets…can we really build this here?

If not, get outside…don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions and get advice – most tech partners are happy to assess your idea and needs earlier, not later

Do we build from scratch? Or do we improve on top of another

platform – ie “Why build map tools when there is Google Maps?”

Hire a creative production company, a development production company, a start up, or a plain ol’ freelancer? Pros and cons each way…

Ownership considerations. Intentions to repurpose, monetize?

Buyout/Acquisition? License? Partnership? Freelance? Decide now.

Wherever possible, apply App Judo – build on top of

already existing platforms. They have user trust, and they’ve overcome the challenges you want to avoid.

Question whether you need to rebuild the wheel…

5. Stop Jabbering and Prototype Already!

You’re probably debating how it works – stop. Get

something down on paper, or even on the screen.

Not just the “elevator pitch” anymore

Draw napkin/chalkboard wireframe

Paper prototyping

Map out the step mechanics (10 pages or less) of the app from the POV of the user – what exactly does this thing do exactly?

Prioritize and “beat-list” the features – now is it logical

Post it to walls and halls and solicit collective feedback

Kill more unicorns and fix unforeseen flaws that feedback has

exposed

This will help you tighten your cost estimates and get

consensus among developers

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Apps ain’t gonna pay for themselves, yo...

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6. Collect The Check

Don’t sell the app, sell the client’s objectives –

frame the pitch according to what your client wants to buy!

Do what you got to do – angle the app thru the client’s objective lens!

• I want fame and the news headline?

• I want pioneer innovation?

• I want to boost sales?

• I want CRM?

• I want to fuel more transactions?

• I want insightful listening?

Sell clients what they want.

So position it differently according to stakeholder needs.

Psst…

There is likely no line item in your client’s marketing budget called “apps”.

So prepare to use creative budgeting (and possibly

sacrifice something from your traditional marketing

plans – creatives won’t see that one coming).

*And cheaper costs will enable client to embrace potential risk and experimentation.

Guy Kawasaki, a serial venture capitalist, advises

start-ups to explain their ideas in 10 pages or less. Do what Guy says – no tech tomes here.

“…10 slides, 20 minutes, and size 30 font.”

Sell Safe: make the pitch feel real and not risky.

Forego the deck when possible and show as layout .jpgs (if it’s a phone ap, put ‘em on the phone) or working “thing”

Demonstrate how the core functionality is really possible

Leverage the proof of your development partners who’ve

already done it (or something similar)

Button up your financial projections and calendars

Comparative analysis and case study learnings

Highlight customer insights and statistics

Lower your development costs so that price is not a barrier (but don’t lose your shirt, either – easily said, huh?)

Stage development in phases so that success benchmarks may unlock later budget and further development

Congrats, you’ve collected the check!

This is why you’re hot! Remind folks – cuz sometimes they forget.

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7. Resist Feature Bloat

Somewhere between financing and launch everyone

will be tempted to add more flair to the app. Don’t.

“What if…” additions only piss off your developers, drives up dev time and costs (and delays shipping)

The idea was bought because it is simple, and crisp

Tighten and improve without adding more wings and doo-dads

– don’t Frankenstein this

If you add something, subtract something – maintain priorities

Ruthlessly silence the clients and associates who have more to

add (remind them of additional cost implications, that typically shuts it down fast)

Save these suggests for v2, and prep your clients now for those incremental budgets we’ll need after we launch (Ha! Always

Selling…)

Robert Hoekman offers keen guidance on

segmenting your “nice to have” features from the “things to build right now”.

“…great software…has only those features

that are absolutely necessary for users to

complete the activity the applications is

meant to support.”

8. Stop Jabbering and Launch Already!

Things Fall Apart. Particularly when you’re tryna

launch your application.

Did I mention before? App Store does not approve on your schedule…good luck with that.

QA – it means quality assurance, and you need to allot ample time for it

But whose really got time for that? “Dogfood” your project –

Google uses internal staff to beta test projects for many hours before launching to public

Watch the skies – someone just launched your app before you

did. Lets brainstorm our differentiation

Overbudget?

Got awareness? Just because you build it, don’t mean they will

come

It is probably the least of your concerns right now…

but you need to pause and define your app’s success metric now with client.

Remember the Kobayashi Maru* – set up the rules of success so that whatever happens, you win. • Not about clicks, the conversations? • #Downloads?

• Time Spent? • Passalong? • Press coverage?

Define a mutual success metric that is reasonable – don’t permit unrealistic expectations.

Oh, and get developer to tag the user actions you want to track (they will be “too busy” to give a damn, but make them give a damn).

*What the heck is Kobayashi Maru? Star Trek Classic / Star Trek Neu? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobayashi_Marus.com

Oh, and congrats!

You’ve just launched an application! Rain Champagne.

9. Doh! Didn’t See That Coming!

Things change when users actually use it. Go figure.

Eyes on user metrics (and comments boards) and adapt fast.

Multi-variate testing, Google Analytics (free), Flurry (mobile, free), Fbook

Insights (free) – get data.

Yes, still Wild, Wild West on metrics standards (particularly for mobile) but do

what you can.

Turn data into insights, and actions.

BTW, you did give users a means to offer feedback?

Possible Scenario #1: Runaway Success. You win, client wins, users win.

Planner writes Cannes and Effies case studies. It gets much easier next time.

Possible Scenario #2: Epic Fail. Client demands accountability. Blame and

denials. Planner writes post-mortem with learnings. Stear mea culpas toward

actionable fixes. It probably gets much harder next time with this client.

Whichever scenario – learn from what happened and apply to future

developments.

Planning an Application means piloting the whole

process, not just beginning or parts…

1. Question “Why?”

2. Kill the Unicorns

3. Now Bootstrap Yourself

4. Find Tonto(s)

5. Stop Jabbering and Prototype Already!

6. Collect the Check

7. Resist Feature-Bloat

8. Stop Jabbering and Launch Already!

9. Doh! Didn’t See That Coming…

Stuff currently not in your job description that you will be responsible for – just because.

Six Odd Jobs and Responsibilities for the Planner

Research/Rationale

Nervous clients want to feel safe.

They will demand case studies, comparative gap analyses, best

practices, user data and trends.

This stuff is often hard to find, look to blogs and articles from

makers of other apps to get bits and reveals of metrics and

methods.

Technical Copy

Because your typical ad writers don’t want none of this.

From user instructions, to FAQs to the “thank you” SMS copy after

signing up – somebody has to write all that detail stuff.

…and somebody is likely gonna be you sucker!

User (Experience) Flows

Developer partners (even clients) will need diagrams and “beat lists” that outline the full user experience.

Think “if x, then y”, the details may get maddening, but soldier on for the user!

P/R Synopses

Because nobody else in the agency can explain the damn thing, certainly not in 2 sentences…they’ll call you.

Write the crisp headline you want to see out in the world about it.

Good thing you boiled down the pitch in early exercises!

*And hey, your name now appears in the article, collect credit!

Promotional Awareness

Doh! “The app needs users ASAP!”

You’ll be tapped to “use your social networks” to get users.

Tweet it, Facebook it, email it…or

Push early for media budget to garner real mass awareness!

Mea Culpa

Yes, even if you had nothing whatsoever to do with the app, best believe that when/if it fails, you will be called to help explain it

with metrics or any other kind of sorcery you surely have!

So best to do this thing right, from the start, so you aren’t bowing

before an angry client who will seek accountability.

#imjussayin

Advanced Level: Pros and Cons of Development

Staff Options

Considerations the man doesn’t want you to know.

Trust – got your success in mind

Convenience – right down the hallway

You own the code developed

Ideal for sustainable platforms and constant beta projects

Costly to maintain a staff member for every code platform

Likely to be underwater with other workloads

Training Boondoggles – “I sent my dev to Google Wave Boot Camp and all I got was this lousy tee shirt!”

“Wins” and “Pitfalls” of In-House Developer

Trust – may have your success in

mind (promise of future work)

Convenience – right down the hallway

You own the code developed

Quick injection of expertise to free

your in-house devs

No overhead to maintain – instantly add the dev you need

Costly overages with revisions and constant beta (prob still

cheaper than a company)

Promiscuous…likely working at

another shop down the street if you’re into proprietary secrets

“Wins” and “Pitfalls” of Freelance Developer

Co-creatives with a vocal point-of-view – think of them like commercial “directors”

Instant credibility when you sell the client – “these are the makers of…”

Not your staffing problem (but expect lots of conference calls)

Instant action team (in theory) and expertise

Co-creatives, with a vocal POV –they don’t just shut up and code

Luxury rates, those euro-jeans don’t come cheap

Not ideal for constant beta and constant client revisions

*Check the contract, surprise, they own code

“Wins” and “Pitfalls” of Creative Production Company

No creative tensions, just the code, ma’am

Fast injection of geek army

Diverse selection of geeks to

apply to your problem

Demands you know precisely what you want and adhere to strict scope of

work

Overages could get costly with revisions

Not ideal for sustainable platforms or constant beta projects

*Shh, most often, they’re just hiring freelancers that you could find

yourself

*Oh, and check the contract, may own your code

“Wins” and “Pitfalls” of Development Production

Company

Canary in the Coalmine – they’ve already overcome the tech glitches you’d rather avoid

They’ve got users (and awareness) you

could borrow

“Seal of Approval” effect on your app,

instills trust

Less work – advance to what’s most

important to your objectives

They are seeking awareness and

opportunity to build with you

Open API still means you have much

to add to fit your needs

May be so busy doing their own thing that there is little time for

your distractions

*Let’s hope they don’t go under – or

get acquired

“Wins” and “Pitfalls” of Open API or Start-Up

License

Thanks.

http://www.slideshare.net/group/we-are-fallon

Let's continue the conversation.

#Planningness

@akispicer

http://www.linkedin.com/in/akispicer

http://www.fallon.com

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