Step 3
Build the Product
Most of the information is this step is required only if you are hiring a developer to build your product. If you are doing the development yourself, you can skip most of this page and build the product with time and care, and at your own pace. However, be sure to read the section on Quality Assurance testing, which is usually best completed if you have someone else do it for you, someone who is new to the product.
NDA
Once you hire a developer, you need to think about having them sign a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) so that legally they can’t share any of your ideas or documents, or anything they produce for you, with anyone else.
If you’re using a freelance platform like Upwork, it should have a default NDA built into the hiring process. Double check their Terms and Conditions to be sure.
If you’re using off-platform developers, have them explicitly sign an NDA. Here’s a sample NDA. You can have them electronically sign the NDA using a tool like HelloSign.
Project kickoff
To start development off on the right foot, you should hand off wireframes, requirements (user stories), design artifacts, and anything else you think will help make the developer more effective and his job easier.
If they are developing a custom website or app, make sure to setup a code repository, also known as a version control system, on Bitbucket or Github as the owner of the repo. Give the developer access and ask him to frequently commit his updates to the repo. Here is a quick introduction to code repos:
Milestones
Break up the product development process into milestones. Each milestone should consist of one or more features from your MVP backlog. Make sure you review and approve each milestone before the developer continues on to the next. This will reduce wasted time, effort, and money if the product goes off track.
Quality Assurance (QA) testing
Once the development of the product is completed you need to thoroughly test it. Either you or someone else other than the developer should quality test the product.
Here is a primer on software testing:
If you prefer not to do it yourself, you can find a freelancer on Upwork to do the testing.
The QA testing should test functionality, usability, cross-platform consistency, and UI/UX.
Whether you do the testing yourself or hire someone else to do it, you should start by creating a thorough test plan in a spreadsheet. You should create the test plan yourself because you have a complete picture of how the product should work.
Here is a video explaining what test cases are, how to put them together, and how detailed they can get:
In the test plan:
- There should be a column for test cases and a column for the pass/fail status for the corresponding test case
- Each test case should include (1) an action that the user can take and (2) the expected result
- You can group the test cases by screen or by feature
When testing is completed, if any test cases failed then that means there are bugs in the code. Share the failed test cases with the developer so they can reproduce the errors and fix the bugs.
When all bugs are fixed, do a regression test to make sure that all the bugs were fixed and nothing else broke in the process.
Documentation
It is very important to have your developer(s) create technical documentation of the software product. It will be useful when doing future work and also for due diligence when getting acquired.
At the very least, the documentation should include:
- A table which contains a list of each file, library, or package and a brief description of what they do.
- A separate page for each item in the list that goes into more detail. They should use a consistent format for these pages. You can create a template with common headings that the developer can fill out for each item.
Close the development project
- When regression testing is complete, the development of your MVP is done!
- Make sure all of the code is in the code repo
- Make the final payment to the developer
- Request the developer to be available for follow-up work in case you find more bugs or need enhancements.
Congratulations! Your finished product should now be in your hands!
Click done once the MVP is complete…