Development
Lets hear it for the developers! Createanet are King!
Another week in the world of budding App Creator… and it’s all coming together. And as Hannibal in the ‘A Team’ would say ” I Love it when a plan comes together”!
My last blog entry I spoke at length about the need for a good, no great design team! Those damned creatives (of which I’m probably one!) and their design ethos! But what of the nuts and bolts guys, the stokers in the engine room creating all the heat and steam to make the engine run at full throttle under the hand of the captain.
Developers… you definitely can’t do it without them. And in Createanet (www.createanet.co.uk) I’ve got me some really good developers.
Thats not to say that the relationship was all sweetness and light at the start; but for understandable reasons. As an ‘ideas’ guy, a blue-sky thinker if you like, I can see the App, the project in my head. Every button, function, ‘call to action’ is there working just as the thousands of apps we all interact with everyday just work. We never consider the functionality, the flow, the fitness for purpose or the finer aspects of coding. For us, apps just work. The challenge was to marry up my passion with their knowledge and skills.
These guys know the hidden language of coding. Its probably a language that has touched more people than latin, mandarin or english but we just dont know it. Most people probably dont even know it exists. But i-Drills as an App wouldn’t exist without it.
At Createanet, MD Kevin King is the slick operator at the head of the organisation; the company was recommended by Selesti, through a recommendation to them. And it goes to prove the age old adage that the best recommendations are the personal ones. Leave aside the slick advertising campaigns or glossy brochures. Good people rarely have to sell themselves. Kevin made the time and effort to travel to the team hotel in Exeter to have an initial chat about the App idea – The Coaching App as it was referred to in the early days!
On his trusty iPad sat a number of Apps Createanet had, eh, created! Farm and Cottage Holidays had just been released and was downloading for fun; up to 10,000 a day!! Impressive numbers indeed.
Throughout the briefing process and scoping Kevin would be really insightful as to what could and couldn’t be done for the dough; and the added value they have created to date is excellent. I wanted the App out in June – but will have a far more polished product in November! Some of the little touches, the nuances of coding that have been brought to bear, means that time and money spent on the project will hopefully produce a product that we can ll be proud of.
Today I again saw the app in action and it gets slicker every time we see it. You want players – BOOM! Different colours of players – BOOM! Discs – BOOM!, Ladders – BOOM!
My design brief was ‘to be as fast as pen and paper or the coaches wont use it’! You’ll be able to decide for yourself in the next few weeks as to wether that has been achieved.
But I already know the answer!
i-Drills Website development – Selesti Style!
Design and development gather pace with updates and redesigns coming in more and more frequent intervals from Selesti Towers.Things are certainly picking up speed as we draw closer to the launch date in October.
If I’m not looking at template redesigns one minute, its webpage proofs the next, and then the App’s functionality itself. As an ‘ideas man’ it certainly pays to spend time trying to understand the technologies and professions at work, as when time is tight and costs money, you certainly dont want it to be wasted in a Class 101 on WebPage design.
Thats where I believe having good people; no excellent people and professionals on board is not only saving me time but (hopefully) saving me money. There’s no cotton wool surrounding the brief and design; I tell them what I want, they tell me if its a) within scope, 2) possible and 3) adds value to what the project is about. If theres a better way to do it, its explained and we make a decision. After all, its not only the ability I’m paying for but the opinion too.
When the project gets to certain milestones then ‘sign-off’ time arrives and that can be an important period! A little like getting married – its a commitment thing – once you say yes, changing your mind can be pretty expensive and may leave you looking a little foolish; best to have thought things through beforehand. And if everything is in place, you don’t want to disappoint the gathered throng by having stage-fright.
Having known the guys at Selesti for a good period of time (I had actually recommended a few people to them before I took the plunge myself) I knew that the quality of service and work would be high. Their portfolio of clients speaks for itself. They were my first and only choice for this project; not that I hadn’t had a few flirtations regarding other projects – some of which will hopefully bear fruit – but they were still relying on other pieces of the jigsaw to be in place first. Now that I’ve worked with them for a good year or so, they have shown their worth. Relaxed and encouraging when its appropriate, focussed and driven at game time.
Selesti are, to me, Ollie (MD) and Tom (Account Manager). Together they make a great team, they have each other’s back but there’s no comfort zone thats apparent to the client. Tom keeps everything moving, fielding calls, emails, texts etc with aplomb. To me, my app is the only project in the world, and the only one that Selesti should be working on; in reality its just one of a host of projects in the Selesti stable. I know thats the case but it never feels like that to me. Thats because Tom makes it that way. A+ Customer Service. If there’s difficulties with anything else, and only when needed, Ollie appears and together they make the difficulties go away.
So, if you’re in the market for an App or a website, Selesti should be your first port of call. Without their help, I’d be miles away from where I am now.
The Dave Carolan Blog 
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