Appearances Dima Malenko Appearances Dima Malenko

Future of the Apps

I presented at the ITEM 2015 and shared my view on the evolution of the business of applications and offered some advice to startups looking to build their company around application(s).

I presented at the ITEM 2015 and shared my view on the evolution of the business of applications and offered some advice to startups looking to build their company around application(s).

Here is the gist of my talk:

  • Applications play increasingly important role in our digital lives. On the last WWDC keynote Apple mentioned that the average person has 119 apps (check out other numbers from the keynote).
  • The industry is huge. Last year developers received $10bln on iOS App Store alone (cumulative paymnets of $30bln this year against $20bln announced last year).
  • Apps have gone a long way from multi-hundren dollars packages full of floppies and manuals to nearly free downloads available instantly. We continue to withness "race to the bottom": $1.26 is not that much for an average price of app.
  • With widespread subsidization of mass consumption applications (e-mail, calendars, notes, contacts, etc.) acqui-hiring has become fairly common way to monetize apps in this category. It may be tempting to follow the example of Sparrow, Mailbox, Accompli, Wunderlist and others, but it is difficult and very uncertain.
  • Working in a niche on a specilized application gives far greater chance to build a business around app development.
  • New niches often form around new devices, which inspire users to find new ways to use technology products.
  • What is even better for our multi-device always-connected environment – services.

Take a look at the slides below. I'll the video, when it becomes available.

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Appearances Dima Malenko Appearances Dima Malenko

Building a team

Not long ago I was honored to presented for a second time on a great on-line conference IT-Brunch. This event was devoted to finding, hiring and keeping right professionals for your team. Here is the slidecast for my presentation (in Russian) where I try to draw analogies between software teams, FC Barcelona and army recruiting. 

Here are some highlights:

  • Job market for developers suffers from the lemon problem on both sides: there are not only many less competent developers, but also there are lots of crapy developer jobs. Every day makes it even harder for a good developer to find a decent job, and vice versa.
  • When you set out on a journey of building a team, first think about what you plan to achieve with this team. Winning school championship is very different from selling girl scout cookies: different goals, different teams, different approaches to building them.
  • Make team part of the hiring decision.
  • Hire for a specific position, not a generic job description.
  • Look for new team members in the company first. And, as a consequence, do not be afraid of letting people go to other teams.
  • Be honest on the interview: do not promise a candidate something, which will never come true, simply to get him in.
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Appearances Dima Malenko Appearances Dima Malenko

Part Time Agile

Recently I presented at IT Brunch online conference with a talk about experience of my team doing part time agile development. Here are some highlights:

  • On a personal productivity level do not mix narrow focus tasks like fixing a bug in code with wide focus activities like contemplating about future of technology in your niche.
  • If your team is distributed in time, but not in space, which is not unusual for a team of parttimers or freelancers, give yoursleves a time to get together and just talk (you can eat your lunches at that time too).
  • It’s hard enough to do even one big thing, let alone two. Don’t try to focus your effort on several major features.
  • General management practices still work: if you are a manager, have one-on-ones with your team members.
  • Do not neglect up front design and specification development. There are situations, when it’s easier to try to foresee a problem, than try to resolve it.
Check out the entire presentation for more ideas (narration is in Russian):
Part Time Agile

There was a questions on where to get more information about one-on-one meetings. I suggest you start with One-on-Ones: The Single Most Effective Management Tool and check out other podcasts on this topic from Manager Tools.

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