It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Swayable is going quite well. We have hit nearly 1.5 million responses in the system and nearly 25k Swayable’s have been created. We have just launched our Android application (last friday) in addition to our iPhone app that’s already on the market. Our primary user base is mobile, literally 90% of our users access Swayable via mobile.
We work constantly to update bugs, tweak features etc. and pushing live updates on a daily basis. However, we have elements and features that get put into project “Phases” as I call them, these are things that are beyond bug fixes and minor feature updates/tweaks, that need design/development brain power to scope out. We have been working through the project scope of the next phase and it’s taking longer than anticipated (I’m always assuming things move faster than they do).
I thought I’d do all the development for the next Phase in 1 chunk as it seemed small enough, but as I started working with the design and development teams, I realized I could break it up into smaller components and get feature pushed live faster, first to web, then to mobile.
Seems logical enough right? but even in a project where everything fits together nicely and “should” be done together, you can still break it up in to layered pieces that build upon each other and test, push live, test, push live etc. all the way through the project phase. this gets elements live faster, users actually using these new features and providing feedback and then you bug fixes starting earlier in the process.
So my latest phase has now been broken down into manageable pieces, like bite size cupcakes vs. trying to eat the whole thing at once! from 1 “Phase” down to 4 components, and it’s clicking and moving along much smoother than trying to tackle it all at once.
We are at a point now, where we will start seeing execution on this latest phase as early as 3-4 weeks vs. waiting up to 3-4 months! The challenge is that all pieces of this phase really tie into each other, so you have to understand the whole, before you can piece it out.
Take a minute to see if you can build out the roadmap of whre you want to be, what elements make up that path and what features build upon each other to get there. then start building, and executing… you can always change it if it doesn’t work, much better than sitting stagnant for months at a time.
