How to Build a Flutter App in 30 Days

Flutter Cuts Months of Development Time

Flutter and other cross-platform mobile development frameworks are excellent tools for code reuse.

Flutter also supports web app development, so the code can be reused in the Android, iOS, and web versions of the app.

From our estimates in Flutter projects, Flutter lets us reuse approximately 20% of the code for the mobile parts of the app (iOS & Android) and around 60% for the backend in a glue-code format.

Now how to put the Flutter development features to practice and build an MVP in Flutter in less than 30 days.

Step 1: Analyze the End User

First, do a detailed and thorough analysis of who the end users will be. When you know exactly who will be using the product, you can create a very small list of features, crafted in a way that helps the user achieve their goals.

This means, for example, limiting the number of login and account setup options.

Also, consider the first environment the app will be released to. For example, if it’s an internal product initially, limit login options to one and simplify account registration. You can have the app’s admin take care of new users via email address sign-up.

Ditch including a password reminder or a password reset feature. This will shave off plenty of development hours.

Step 2: Consider Liberal but Thoughtful Code Reuse

Have you worked with the client before on a different app? Maybe you can reuse and customize parts of the code wherever they fit the context.

But.

When you’re customizing features and looking for ways to limit the amount of coding necessary, you can never forget about usability and user experience.

It’s one thing to reuse and customize features to fit an app and completely another to compromise quality in search of cuts in development time.

Step 3: Implement Simple, Intuitive, and Repeatable UI across the App

To maximize efficiency and decrease the time necessary to implement fancy designs, opt for simplicity.

The workarounds you can use to decrease development time is reducing the number of cases to be served. Instead of letting users enter data on the same screen with multiple field forms, a separate screen for data entry should appear. This eliminates the need to scroll the screen to access data fields.

Also, a separate screen for data input decreases the development time necessary to instruct the app to fit different screen sizes.

Step 4: Skip App Store and Google Play Review Process

If the app you're developing is internal, it doesn't have to undergo the review process in the App Store or Google Play.

While the review process usually takes only a few days, sometimes developers have to make changes, which can generate additional coding hours.

Also, preparing the app for the Android review or iOS review process takes additional dev hours.

Step 5: Ship the Product and Let the Feedback Stream In

The goal with a great majority of mobile apps is to build a useful and simple app that validates the main assumption.

By focusing only on the features that provide value and implementing workarounds that don’t compromise quality and usability, you can build and ship an app for user testing in less than 30 days.

Rapid MVP Development Is Never a Compromise on Quality

While it’s very much possible to ship a quality digital product in a month, rapid MVP development doesn’t mean you put together a bunch of features and wrap it in a passable UI.

Rapid MVP development is a balanced act of technical and creative thinking.

When you want to release a product and are pressed for time, you need to be smart about:

• picking the features that go into the first iteration (fewer is always better)
• choosing on-screen data manipulation methods for simpler and faster development
• code reuse across platforms and purposes