Metro Pass 0011 – What’s Your App About

(For an overview of this series, please read this post.)

MSDN Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465427

The first thing you need to do when planning your app is figure out what your app is all about. Answer the question, “What does your app do?” This might seem obvious, but one things I’ve learned through years of consulting, presenting, and life in general is to assume nothing about a project, an audience, or home plumbing. Once you have a good idea of what your app is all about you can start focusing on the experience you want to create.

To get started, come up with a broad concept and list all of the things that you want to help users do with your app.

• For example, suppose you want to build an app that helps people plan their trips. Here are some ideas you might sketch out on the back of a napkin:
• Get maps of all of the places on an itinerary, and take them with you on the trip.
• Find out about special events happening while you’re in a city.
• Let travel buddies create separate but shareable lists of must-do activities and must-see attractions.
• Let travel buddies compile all of their photos to share with friends and family.
• Get recommended destinations based on flight prices.
• Find a consolidated list of deals for restaurants, shops, and activities around your destination.

Once you do this, you can move on to the next step, figuring out what your app is great at, which, coincidentally, is the next post in this series.

MSDN Source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465427