The Mobile App Project Canvas

During the last 6 years I have worked on many mobile projects.

As an Analyst and Project Manager I have attended many meetings, worked with customers from various areas (business, IT, CRM, martketing) and with colleagues with different skills (mobile developers, designers, backend developers, ...) trying to translate needs of companies in viable solutions, balancing requirements, technological constraints and budget.

It is during this daily work I designed "The Mobile App Project Canvas", a grid that can stimulate discussion among the various stakeholders involved in a project in an attempt to reach a common vision of the project.

Working on the compilation of the different sections of the canvas, users approach the discussion on topics related to main mobile app design. From this overview you can then proceed to the technical design of the solution, addressing issues related to User eXperience, User Interface, development and application integration.

The structure

The canvas is divided into five main sections:

1. Project Definition: explain the general idea of the project
2. People: clarifies who the project referents and users of the app are
3. Problems & Risks: understand what does not work helps to avoid new errors and mitigate risks
4. Features & Plan: collect all the features of the project, choose the essential and define a realistic roadmap
5. Environment: provide specific elements that rapresent each mobile project

I know, there are many topics not included in this canvas that must be evaluated when designing a new mobile app. The marketing strategy, critical for B2C apps, the adoption approach in case of B2E apps, technical aspects such as the Mobile Backend, SDKs, APIs for integration are deliberately excluded from this process and delegated to further evaluations.

Why? Because the goal of Canvas is to achieve a general overview of the project, shared with all stakeholders, not to explore every detail, but to have a macro plan able to always perceive the direction shared.

Download & Feedback

As it has been tested on a set of projects, I decided to share it publicly with the hope of being able to improve it, thanks to the feedback and the direct experience of those who perform similar analyses.

Download: The Mobile App Project Canvas - PDF version

I hope this canvas will be usefull for your job. If so, share it and give me your feedback.

*** www.themobileappcanvas.com ***