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Jonathan Kohl [email protected] www.kohl.ca @jonathan_kohl The 7 Deadly Sins o f Mobile Apps 1

The 7 Deadly Sins of Mobile Apps

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Jonathan [email protected]

www.kohl.ca

@jonathan_kohl

The 7 Deadly Sinsof Mobile Apps

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Author:

❯ Consultant, author, speaker in the mobile industry

❯ Product Manager: web, mobile, wearables, IoT

About Jonathan

Contributing Author: Coming (in progress):

Commit These Sins And…

❯ Your customers will have a poor mobile

experience

They won’t be happy with your app

❯ You will lose money due to poor customer

service

Customers will go to competitors who support

them better

❯ Your brand and image will suffer

Mobile failures are high profile: stores, social

media, word of mouth

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Deletable Offences

Don’t give

people

reasons to

delete your

app.

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Which App Would You Buy?

Rantable Offences

Social Media: #fail

❯ If your app fails people, they will unleash

their fury on social media

❯ It can be very difficult to restore your brand

after bad publicity

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Sin 1: Lust

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Lust Symptoms

App leaves you feeling unfulfilled andwanting more.

❯ It doesn’t work after installing – it crashes

❯ It doesn’t do what it claims it can do

❯ The app is missing important features or information

❯Wrong location – app doesn’t know where you really are

❯Poor design - the app feels flat and boring

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Lust Remedies

❯Designers: map needs and requirements to

solving a real problem people have

❯Developers: use mobile technology and

features

Don’t just create a mobile version of an existing

web app or site

❯ Testers: test for reliability and verify utility

Research marketing and sales claims and make

sure the app delivers

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Sin 2: Gluttony

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Gluttony Symptoms

App uses far too many deviceresources.

❯Doesn’t fit well on smaller screens

❯Your device slows down and heats upApp uses up as much memory as possible.

Whenever conditions aren’t ideal, the app

freezes up.

❯Your battery goes dead quickly

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Gluttony Remedies

❯Designers: research technical limitations of

devices, be careful with data requirements

❯Developers: optimize resource usage

during development

Just because you can use all the cores doesn’t

mean you should!

❯ Testers: try out scenarios with combined

activities to find weak points

Use the app while on the move, and while doing

other things

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Sin 3: Greed

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Greed Symptoms

App uses as much of your network

resources as possible.

❯App is slow and unreliable on wireless

networks They aren’t as fast and dependable as wired

❯App crashes when you change

networks or when conditions aren’t ideal

❯App causes a data overage and costs

you $$

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Greed Remedies

❯Designers: design with wireless tech in

mind, assume weak or lost connections,

limit data where possible

❯Developers: use distributed computing

approaches and error handling, assume

slow connections, latency and dropped

packets

❯ Testers: test transitions between network

types, and connection loss: wifi, cellular,

dead spots, etc.

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4

Sin 4: Sloth

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Sloth Symptoms

The app takes too long to do anythinguseful.

❯ It is slow to launch and slow to

respond to gestures and inputs

❯ It gets in the way of problem solving,

particularly in high stress situations

❯ It causes you to feel frustrated. This

app is wasting precious time

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Sloth Remedies

❯Designers: design with limited power and

resources in mind, don’t get carried away

with feature overload

❯Developers: monitor and optimize

performance during development – watch

for memory leaks, too much processing,

chatty network connections

❯ Testers: performance test; use real devices,

particularly older devices on slower

networks

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5

Sin 5: Wrath

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Wrath Symptoms

App doesn’t play well with others.

❯Application settings override device defaults and causes unexpected behavior

❯Overrides other app settings, causing them to malfunction

❯App demands focus, no matter what else you are doing

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Wrath Remedies

❯Designers: research device defaults and

custom settings, and problems that can

occur when they conflict

❯Developers: be careful with custom

settings and be aware of other apps

and services running on devices

❯ Testers: try different user scenarios

integrating other app actions, change

device settings and operations

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6

Sin 6: Envy

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Envy Symptoms

The app is a copycat. Users wouldprefer to use existing apps instead. ❯ It is too similar to other apps, and gets

rejected from application stores

❯After researching and installing the app, it is too similar to others I already use, so I delete it

❯ I can’t find your app in a sea of similar apps, so I go to a competitor

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Envy Remedies

❯Designers: understand users and market and design with differentiation in mind

❯Developers: be creative with mobiledevelopment features to provide a unique user experience

❯ Testers: research apps in the marketplace and provide early feedback to designers and test the requirements:“What problem does this solve that others don’t?”

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7

Sin 7: Pride

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Pride Symptoms

The app is difficult to use and expects users to adapt to it.

❯People get frustrated while trying to

complete simple tasks

❯The app requires too many inputs

and gestures to get anything done

❯People are subjected to pain – eye

strain, sore fingers

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Pride Remedies

❯ Designers: use empathic design – take the

user, their context and emotions into account

Ensure requirements and solutions are people focused

❯ Developers: follow framework development

guidelines and UX practices

Don’t get carried away with special behavior and

settings, and don’t ignore user experience

❯ Testers: test user experiences using human-

interface guidelines, and use real-world

scenarios and tests

Report any awkward workflows or painful areas

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Keep personal data private and secure: ❯ Designers: design solutions to prevent

privacy breaches

❯ Developers: use secure protocols and storage tools

❯ Testers: ensure data is private, use pen testing and any security tools you can leverage

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Don’t Tempt Others

Repent of Your Sins!

Alternatively:

❯ Exploit human weaknesses in

your app to create positive

experiences.

❯Give users what they want and

need.

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©2016 Kohl Concepts Inc.

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Jonathan [email protected]

www.kohl.ca

@jonathan_kohl