Going to the extreme points
Here’s a long term strategy I use to figure out what I should be doing.
When I made my first iPhone app it took about three months to do all the design, graphics and programming. I was aiming to make something quickly and three months seemed quick.
Next I decided that what I would really like to do is make a music game that I could add music to every few months. It took about four months to finish the first release. I was aiming to make something that wouldn’t take long but my definition of long was still around eight to twelve months.
In retrospect, three to four months is a long time to spend on one app. That is now my extreme point for development time. To experiment, I’m going to go in the opposite direction and make an app in a week. A week probably means a few weeks if I include making the icon, testing, surprises, improving the design, etc but that’s fine too. A month is still much shorter than three or four months.
When I’m done with that app I’ll have established two reference points in my mind: shortest development time and longest development time. With that information I can determine which strategy works best and I’ll know the direction to go in next.
