How to manage project development if I have no experience and education?

Question

Project management

I want to try myself in it (creating applications). But I'm still a complete zero in this, I myself am a humanist. Therefore, I would like to get help on some issues.

1. Is it true that design is 15-20% of the total app cost? I have experience in design, I looked at reviews on Sketch and Figma. There seems to be nothing complicated. I think I could take on this part, but is there really nothing difficult in this?
   
2. How to control freelancers and their work? Are there special applications for this? How can you determine the best application for your project? If a freelancer "rolls the bolt" in the middle of work, can I take the working "prototype code files" (I hope you understand what I mean))) and transfer to another master? And will the new freelancer understand what the old freelancer did?
   
3. Let's say I have a ready-made working application. Will it be possible to change the design on it and make a couple of minor changes in order to release it on google play or ios already as new? How do the platforms themselves feel about this? How much money and effort could such a redesign cost compared to developing a new application?
   
4. Cross platform or native? From what I have studied, I am leaning towards the native, as they write that the price of a cross-platform will be one and a half times more than that of one native, and there is a lot of trouble with them. Interested in your opinion.
   
5. Output of the application to Google Play and ios. Is it better to try to do it yourself or is it better to turn to specialists for the very first time? One studio gave me a price tag of $ 250 for each output, is the price justified? For freelancers, as I understand it, is it automatically included in the price or not?
   

Answer 1

I have experience in design, I looked at reviews on Sketch and Figma. There seems to be nothing complicated. I think I could take on this part, but is there really nothing difficult in this?

I will translate: “I saw how the surgeon performs the operation. It seems that there is nothing complicated. I think I could take on this part, but is there really nothing difficult in this? Brad, right? It's the same with any other area. It's very nice that you "look at the reviews on Sketch and Figma", but this is a drop in the ocean, and does not make you a design savvy person. Good UX/UI design is rare.

How to control freelancers and their work? Are there special applications for this? How can you determine the best application for your project?

Have you decided to immediately kill all good undertakings? That is, without understanding either the creative or the technical part, do you already want to take on some part of the project and control the work of specialists? Seriously?

If a freelancer "rolls the bolt" in the middle of work, can I take the working "prototype code files" (I hope you understand what I mean))) and transfer to another master?

With your approach, this will be the most likely result of working with several performers at once. In fact, all your rights and obligations, as well as the rights and obligations of the contractor, should ideally be regulated by the contract. In a more common form, this is a detailed TOR, which describes all the nuances, and according to which work is being carried out from A to Z.

And will the new freelancer understand what the old freelancer did?

It depends on who you hire in both cases. At first, you can hire a newcomer who “sold himself well”, and who will eventually leave behind a bunch of G under the guise of a code / application, and a specialist hired for improvements will have to delve into this pile of G: delve into someone else’s code, fix errors, implement a new one functionality and / or rewrite something in general, etc. Not everyone will undertake this, well, or be prepared to increase the price tag for finalizing and correcting the mistakes of the first contractor you hire.

Let's say I have a ready-made working application. Will it be possible to change the design on it and make a couple of minor changes in order to release it on google play or ios already as new?

Depends on who owns the original application. If you, then there should not be any problems, especially if you have the source code on hand, or you continue to cooperate with the one who wrote this application.

Cross platform or native?

The choice depends on your goals / objectives.

Is it better to try to do it yourself or is it better to turn to specialists for the very first time?

Specialists - this is if you have money and no time (or desire to wait); independently - if there is no money (or the desire to pay someone for this work) and there is time, with a desire to learn and gain experience.

For freelancers, as I understand it, is it automatically included in the price or not?

In 99% of cases - no, but in general it all depends on what you wrote in the TOR, which is agreed upon by both parties, or in the contract.

Answer 2

5) the cost of promotion is not included in the cost of development, unless it was explicitly agreed. If you pour in money, then withdrawing to the top is not a problem - these are stupidly paid application installations, the only question is the amount that you are willing to spend. It is more profitable to pay directly to the cheat service than to contact intermediaries. Of course, all these "promotions" do not guarantee the influx of real users and profit.
4) when using a cross-platform engine, the increase in costs is not so significant. If for different platforms to write new code in another language, then it can be twice as expensive if there are no common resources.
2) The prepayment must be less than 100% of the contract amount, then it will not score.
1) From 0% to 99% of the cost. There are programs without an interface at all, for example. Again, there is a Design with a capital letter and there are separate icons with payment for each icon.