Introduction

Being on the same page is very important when collaborating together on building a product...

At AZKY Tech Labs, we have been building a lot of products using NoCode/bubble.io and are often asked what pieces of information we need upfront in various forms to build a complete picture.

This document can serve as a guide and has many questions for clients. Not all questions need to be answered. But the more information, the better.

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First a quick question: Is it a responsive web application or a mobile app intended for the Apple App Store and Google Play store?

The platform we use (bubble.io) is primarily intended for making web applications that run in a browser. We can make them responsive so that they work on Laptop/Tablet/Mobile resolutions. It is possible to wrap such applications and push them to the App stores. However, bubble.io is more suited for web applications running in a browser.

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How many different types of users are there?

This is quite an important one as it underpins quite a few things.

e.g. For a 2-sided marketplace, there are usually 3 types of users. Buyer, Seller, Super Admin (the one who approves buyer/seller accounts etc.

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And sometimes there are sneaky roles/users as well. E.g. if we still have a 2 sided marketplace, but the marketplace is connecting a business to a consumer. Perhaps the business actually has an Owner role with more privileges who can invite more staff as collaborators in the same business.

What is the end to end journey or sequence like?

The end to end sequence is also called a cross-functional flow chart.

E.g. for a 2 sided marketplace, this would look something like

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- Seller signs up -> Seller sets up profile -> Seller adds a listing -> Buyer signs up -> Buyer views a listing -> Buyer purchases etc.

This can be a document, a flow chart, a clickable wireframe. It doesn’t have to be complicated but something that conveys the end to end picture.

We like using https://www.websequencediagrams.com/ It has a text-based syntax that generates a sequence diagram. E.g. see the screenshot below

However, you can use any tool you want (https://miro.com  or https://www.lucidchart.com/)

What does the product need to look like? Do we have a Brand Style Guide/Design System?

A brand style guide consists of various things such as Typography, Fonts, Logos, Color palette. E.g. This is an example of a nice style guide https://ui-kit-demo-1.bubbleapps.io/

We can easily fetch them from an existing website if you would like us to roll with it.

We also have template/boilerplate that can help. And we have an in-house UI designer who can assist as well.

Are there any external API integrations?

Living inside the bubble of bubble is safe. But integrations with external systems requires more thought and work and we’d like to know ahead of time what integrations need to exist in a product.

Do we have any wireframes?

A picture is worth a thousand words. Low-fidelity wireframes are greyscale pencil sketches that help convey the product vision.

e.g

If you are looking for a tool suggestion, I can highly recommend https://balsamiq.cloud/ (unless you are familiar with another tool. If so, then use that)

High fidelity wireframes are colourful and are basically the best in class in getting across a product vision in how it works and how it looks.

E.g.  We would like a dashboard that looks like this.

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If we are building an MVP

It is quite common for us to receive wireframes that are designed with the complete product vision in mind. But then the emphasis is on building the MVP.

An MVP emphasises more on lower-cost, faster build cycle, lesser features to test an idea before going ahead. There may be some rough edges that are considered acceptable.

As a result, we need a document (or spreadsheet) that covers the core feature list that is absolutely necessary and needs to be part of the MVP.

What sort of timeline are we looking at?

Bubble.io / NoCode is fast. A 6-8 week dev cycle can take us from a concept to a functioning product. However, we may or may not be able to start immediately. We’d like a rough idea of what your expectation is?

What is your budget for the product?

How long is a piece of string? :)

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This is a tricky question to answer I'm afraid and probably deserves another separate article.

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The featured image is from is from User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product by Jeff Patton