What to Prepare Before Hiring an App Developer
A practical brief for finding the right development partner without pretending every product decision is already settled.
By Aleksej Djokic ·
Bring clarity, not a finished specification
You do not need to know every screen or technology before contacting a developer. You do need to explain the problem, the intended users, the first useful workflow, what exists today, and what success would look like. This gives a partner enough context to ask better questions and exposes gaps early.
Include these in a short brief
- The customer or internal user and the situation they are in.
- The current workaround and why it is not good enough.
- A first-release journey, rough sketches, or examples of products that communicate the experience.
- Known integrations, data sources, roles, devices, and compliance constraints.
- Your preferred decision milestones, budget shape, launch context, and who will provide content or feedback.
Evaluate the working relationship
Ask how they handle unknowns
A useful partner will surface assumptions and propose ways to test them, not hide them behind a confident estimate.
Ask what “done” includes
Clarify testing, deployment, source ownership, documentation, app-store submission, monitoring, and post-launch fixes.
Notice how they communicate
You are evaluating the collaboration you will live with for months. Clear questions and written decisions matter as much as a portfolio.
Do not select on portfolio similarity alone
A developer does not need to have built your exact app. Look for evidence of sound product decisions, clear delivery, honest trade-offs, and work that respects the people who use it.