We listen to the customer's wishes and ideas and give initial recommendations. If necessary, we sign the non-disclosure agreement of the received data, after which we process the received information. If there is a technical task, we study it and form a list of questions. At the end of this stage, it is important for us to understand: the idea of the product, the platforms for which the development is planned, the target audience, the business model and monetization (if any). At this stage, representatives of the development department are often involved to analyze the complexity of the project and the necessary resources to fulfill the order. At the end of this stage, it is usually possible to generate estimated prices and estimated delivery times.

According to the received information, we proceed to the formalization of the requirements for the development of the project — our specialists work out user stories on behalf of each role in the project. At this stage, the user flow and Customer Journey Map are formed - how users of the future product will achieve their goal and get value from the product. User stories are created in the Jira project management system and submitted to the customer for approval. At this stage, the pricing of the project is agreed - at a fixed price or hourly payment. It usually depends on the complexity of the project, its scale and the client's understanding of the ultimate goal. In any case, the result of this stage is the agreed technical task, which is attached to the contract, and the financial interaction model is approved.

After determining the scope of work and the complexity of the functionality, the project manager begins to form a team in accordance with the expertise and experience of our specialists. When forming a team, not only professional skills are taken into account, but also the level of communication, speed of decision-making, teamwork and compatibility of different specialists with each other. This is quite a creative process, as it depends on many factors, but it directly affects the efficiency of work and the success of the result. In parallel with this, the project charter is formed, which defines all the rules of internal and external communication, the format of reporting to the customer, the persons from the customer's side who participate in the project and their roles, the frequency and format of status discussions. Depending on the project, the product development methodology is chosen.

At this stage, we take into account the wishes of the customer regarding the order of product releases, since this may involve other activities that are not direct development: advertising and marketing campaigns, press releases, staff training, preparation of equipment packaging, etc. We need to keep everyone involved in sync, working outside of the development team, so the subsequent success of a commercial launch or pre-release depends on good planning. At this very moment, with the involvement of the entire development team, we form stages and sprints, which will be followed by the process of design, coding, testing and transfer to the client for review. Also, at the planning stage, a list of functions that will be included in the MVP of the product is formed.

According to the agile development methodology, each sprint should end with the implementation of a certain function or business value that the customer has the opportunity to see and approve or give a feedback. Depending on the stage of the project, a certain amount of functionality is implemented in each sprint in such a way that the product approaches the final development goal with each stage. The completion of each sprint is the presentation of work results, receiving feedback and making adjustments according to the wishes of the client. The number of sprints in the project depends on the complexity of the task and the terms of its implementation.

As we approach the final stage of development, which has been pre-approved with the customer, we hand over the prescribed test cases and product testing scenarios to the customer's representatives or to an engaged focus group. At this point, the test version of the product is usually already published on the server or in mobile markets with limited access only to approved persons. In international practice, this stage is called User Acceptance Testing. Its purpose is to submit for testing and review the complex system as a whole, and not individual components. It is worth noting that at this stage, the development of some functions is still ongoing, and testing is carried out exclusively according to approved scenarios. Upon completion of this stage, we make all adjustments to the system, and proceed to the software release.

At this stage, our specialists deploy the software in open access. Depending on the platforms, it can be AppStore or PlayMarket, virtual servers in the cloud or customer's physical servers. Our DevOps have extensive experience working with Microsoft Azure and AWS Cloud and perform migration of products to the customer's infrastructure. Depending on the agreement, we develop project documentation — public offers, privacy policies, without which it is impossible to publish applications and in accordance with international requirements. After the official release, the warranty period begins, during which we eliminate all unexpected inaccuracies free of charge for the correct functionality of the software.

If our customer does not have the staff to support server software and servers, we offer such services as an option. Our specialists carry out continuous monitoring of databases, configure data backup and the environment to reduce the possibility of hacker attacks. For mobile applications, our team monitors all iOS and Android operating system updates and promptly publishes updates to the relevant mobile markets. Depending on the product and the geography of its use, our lawyers monitor changes in legislation and policy conditions of service providers and initiate product updates and compliance with all updated norms and requirements.