<h2>Founders &amp; Startups: What Is Front-End Software Development?</h2><p>If you're planning on developing an app or website, front-end and back-end are terms you'll hear a lot. But if you know nothing about web development and the tech world, these words might not mean anything to you.</p><p>That's why we've made this guide to front-end development for founders. This is a handbook specifically made for founders looking to understand the importance of front-end web development and how to find a good front-end developer for the job.</p><p>To kick things off, it's important to know what the front end is. Basically, the front end of your website or app is everything the user sees. This includes user interfaces, images, logos, buttons, and more.</p><p>Some people call this the "client-side" of the app, as this is what the client sees when logging on to your page or software.</p><p>To bring clients to your app or website, you need a good front-end developer for the job. These professionals are skilled in various programming languages and can help you develop the best user interface for your product.</p><p>So, read on to learn more about front-end web developers and how to find the best one for your idea and product.</p><h2>What Is a Front-End Web Developer?</h2><p>As you might guess, a front-end web developer is in charge of the front-end or "client" side of your web page. These professionals use various frontend languages to create your website and ensure users have a great experience when visiting your page.</p><p>Whenever you log into a website or open an app, everything you see has been created by a front-end developer. That said, note that front-end developers aren't web designers. So, they won't create mock-ups of your website with PhotoShop and similar applications.</p><p>Instead, they use code to bring your idea and website design into the digital world.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/front-end/what-is-front-end.jpg"></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>What Does a Front-End Developer Do?</h3><p>A front-end developer handles the coding side of your website's appearance. To create beautiful and engaging web pages, you need to use various coding languages, frameworks and libraries. A good front-end developer understands these tools and when to use them.</p><p>That way, they can ensure the web designer's vision is brought to the computer screen. Doing so requires a solid understanding of the platform and close attention to detail. For most websites, front-end developers play crucial roles, which is why you can't skimp out on one when developing a website yourself.</p><h3>What Languages Do Front-End Developers Use?</h3><p>You'll need more than one programming language or tool as a front-end developer, as each language has its own advantages and drawbacks.</p><p>While the most common technologies needed for front-end developers are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, it's very common for a front-end developer to use a wide range of other tools.</p><p>Some of the tools that front-end developers use include everything from markup and styling languages to programming languages, as well as frameworks and libraries. The combination of these different tools helps speed up software development.</p><p>Still, it can be confusing to understand the differences and how they each function together, so we have broken it down to help you understand it better.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>&nbsp;</p><h3>Markup Languages &amp; Styling Languages</h3><p>Markup and styling languages are used to organise and structure content, enhancing and making the software visually appealing. When combined, these languages create attractive, functional, and responsive software applications.</p><p>Some markup and styling languages include:</p><ul><li>HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)</li><li>CSS</li></ul><h3>Programming Languages</h3><p>Programming languages are essentially the brain behind the application. They are used to perform specific tasks or solve particular problems and allow the software developer to write instructions that the computer can execute.</p><p>Some programming languages include:</p><ul><li>JavaScript</li><li>TypeScript (based on JavaScript, extra functionality for JavaScript)</li></ul><h3>Frameworks &amp; Libraries</h3><p>As the name suggests, frameworks and libraries based on JavaScript provide developers with pre-written code which can be used when developing software. Pre-written code offers tools and functionalities that not only make it easier to build and optimise software but will also speed up the development of the application.</p><p>Some frameworks and libraries based on JavaScript include:</p><ul><li>React (library)</li><li>Vue (framework)</li></ul><p>While your front-end developer may use any technology they want, understand that the programming language doesn't affect the end-user or the client. Users are always looking for a functional and aesthetically pleasing page, and a front-end developer can create one with any language.</p><h2>How to Hire a Front-End Web Developer</h2><p>Hiring a good front-end developer isn't straightforward. Many front-end developers are available right now, and each of them claims to have their own strengths and advantages. However, it's important that you choose the best front-end developer for your website.</p><p>The best frontend developers prioritise quality. At DataMix, our team is made up entirely of Middle and Senior Developers who have been with us since day one. Their vast experience and dedication to excellence at what we do are the foundation of our success.</p><p>While it can be tempting to bring on junior developers, they may require more guidance and assistance from their colleagues, leading to poor quality and slower development times. On the other hand, if you work with middle and senior developers, you will notice that they’re more capable of working autonomously and setting the direction for the project.</p><p>Middle and Senior Developers bring a wealth of experience and strategic vision to development projects. While it may be more costly, the long-term benefits of choosing senior developers are well worth the investment.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br>While some front-end developers can accomplish a task quickly, you need to find front-end engineers who ensure that your website is high-quality and easy to use.</p><h3>Hire Front-End Developers Based on Gradation &amp; Experience</h3><p>Another great way to judge someone's front-end development skills is by looking at their experience. A tech background is one of the primary requirements for a front-end developer, which is why you need to ensure that they're experienced.</p><p>The most attractive front-end developers are the middle and senior developers. These are the most experienced developers in the field, usually having three or more years of experience.</p><p>However, at DataMix, we take great pride in the expertise of our team members. That’s why our Middle Developers have a minimum of 5 years of experience in the field, while our Senior staff has at least 8 years.&nbsp;</p><p>This gives them enough time to understand what features work for websites and how to execute them properly.</p><p>That said, it is perfectly acceptable to hire a junior front-end developer when creating a single landing page or a website with multiple pages. As most junior front-end developers have between 1-3 years of experience, ensuring they have good knowledge of CSS and HTML is essential. That way, they will have the necessary skills to create the project's visual components and solve more specific and complex problems when implementing certain features.</p><p>So, while experience is a very important consideration, it shouldn't be the only consideration when hiring a front-end developer. Instead, you should hire a developer based on the complexity of the task at hand. Hiring a junior developer is okay when it comes to websites, but for web applications, you will need middle and senior staff.</p><h2>Where to Find a Good Front-End Developer</h2><p>There are many places where you can find a top-tier front-end developer. To start, various freelance developers offer their services online. You can find an experienced front-end developer on LinkedIn, Upwork, Toptal, Turing, and other social networking platforms. However, if you're looking for the best professionals for the job, you might be better off going to a development agency or studio.</p><p>When you hire front-end development sources from an agency, you're sure that the team has been vetted and meets high standards. That's how you know they are familiar with all the necessary front-end programming languages like TypeScript and JavaScript.</p><p>This allows the team to tackle a wide range of problems that junior freelancers won't be able to solve. On top of that, you can hire a team for both front and back-end development, making it much easier to create and launch your site or website app.</p><p>When developing applications, the layout and features play a huge role in attracting new users. This is why you must take the time to determine the qualities and front-end skills you need from your front-end developer and scour the market for a professional who meets those needs.</p><h2>The Main Responsibilities of a Front-End Developer</h2><p>You can expect your front-end developer to handle a wide range of tasks and responsibilities. Some of these responsibilities include:</p><h3>Optimising User Experience</h3><p>The primary goal of a front-end developer is to optimise the user experience. Front-end developers work to ensure that users have an easy and fun time on a webpage or web app. Certain programming languages for front-end developers help them solve specific problems and add new features, making for a smooth and easy user experience.</p><h3>Solve Problems</h3><p>The entire development process for your web app or page is complicated. And more often than not, you'll run into coding problems along the way. So, you'll need a front-end developer that can handle all these different problems and create a better user experience for your clients.</p><h3>Site Development and Maintenance</h3><p>Another one of the front-end developer responsibilities is site development and maintenance. This means the developer will ensure that your site's layout matches your vision while allowing for a great user experience. On top of that, they will maintain your site to ensure that everything is always at 100%.</p><h2>Skills Needed in a Front-End Web Developer</h2><p>When hiring someone for front-end development, you'll find that the front-end developer skills and responsibilities sometimes overlap. It's crucial that your developer can handle all the typical responsibilities of a front-end developer while also tailoring their services and their approach to your website.</p><p>Some of the key skills you need from a front-end developer include the following:</p><ul><li>Knowledge of various languages and technologies</li><li>Creating mobile and web pages</li><li>Develop websites for different browsers</li><li>Full stack development (sometimes)</li><li>Site maintenance</li><li>Responsive design</li><li>Frameworks and libraries</li></ul><p>On top of the skills mentioned above, front-end developers also need soft skills. These include:</p><ul><li>Creativity</li><li>Patience</li><li>Teamwork</li><li>Problem-solving skills</li></ul><p>So, when hiring a good front-end development team, look for these qualities and skills in the professionals. That way, you can rest assured that the team can handle all of your needs.</p><h2>Questions to Ask Front-End Developers When Interviewing</h2><p>The best way to find a front-end dev to do the job for you is to interview the candidates. Aside from looking at front-end developer qualifications, you must get to know the person you might hire for your website. That way, you get a feel of their personality and whether or not they are the right match for your company.</p><p>That said, coming up with interview questions for a front-end developer isn't easy. So, we’ve asked our highly qualified Tech Lead Maksym Osovitnii, what the best questions to ask a front-end developer during the interview process are. That way, you will get a better idea if the candidate you’re interviewing is suitable for your front-end project!</p><p>Let's look at some common interview questions you may want to bring up when talking to front-end developers.</p><p><i>“Can You Tell Us About the Most Interesting Project You’ve Ever Worked On?”</i></p><p>The answer to this question provides insight into the candidate’s experience with non-standard tasks and their ability to tackle out-of-the-box challenges efficiently.&nbsp;</p><p>Developing software is more than just programming: it requires critical thinking and problem-solving skills.</p><h3><i>“Can You Provide an Overview of the SSR, SSG, and CSR Rendering Approaches and Recommend the Most Suitable Approach for Development?”</i></h3><p>In recent years, front-end application development has undergone significant changes compared to a decade ago. Technology has evolved a lot and will only continue evolving and improving as time goes by, resulting in a multitude of formats and approaches for building web applications.</p><p>For developers working on SPA applications, being familiar with different rendering approaches, understanding their features and recognising the optimal ways of use is essential. These factors include the optimisation of the application for search engines, whether it's for internal use only, and its intended goals, among others. A thorough understanding of the various rendering approaches is necessary for building effective and responsive applications.</p><p>Asking a software developer this question during the interviewing process can help you evaluate the candidate’s technical expertise, analytical skills and ability to make informed decisions when building complex front-end applications.</p><p><i>“Is Javascript Single-threaded or Multi-threaded, and What Is the Underlying Mechanism of JS?”</i></p><p>All programming starts with fundamental knowledge of the language and its usage. If a developer doesn’t understand the basics of the language he is using and how it functions, you cannot expect high-quality results - even if said Developer has years of experience using the language.</p><p>When asking a candidate this question during the interviewing process, you will get a better idea of the developers understanding of the language’s fundamentals, which can help create optimised and high-quality code that is logical and understandable to everyone.</p><h3><i>“What Are the Basic Principles of Object-oriented Programming (OOP), and What Is Its Purpose?”</i></h3><p>The use of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) versus Functional Programming (FP) is an ongoing debate you can find among many software developers. While many developers lean towards FP, knowledge about both OOP and FP is crucial.</p><p>That said, OOP should be fundamental knowledge that any developer should possess, which is why this question also gives a lot of insight into their understanding of the fundamentals of software development.</p><p>Asking this question during an interview will give you a good idea about the developers' problem-solving abilities and a clearer picture of their overall experience and qualifications in the field.</p><h2>From Idea to Product: Let Datamix’s Front-End Developers Bring Your Vision to Life</h2><p>If you're searching for exceptional front-end web developers, look no further than DataMix.</p><p>Our team helps turn your ideas into investable and scalable solutions. We specialise in end-to-end development for small to medium businesses, so we'll easily handle your front-end needs. And don't worry- you can rest assured that we have some of the best front-end developers available.</p><p>We aim to help our clients develop their solutions with technology. With the DataMix team by your side, you won't have to worry about any front-end development because we'll take care of it for you. So,<a href="https://datamix.space/contacts/"> contact us</a> today to learn more!</p><h2>FAQs</h2><h3>What Technical Skills Does a Front-End Developer Need?</h3><p>Some of the technical skills that front-end developers need include HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other programming language and frameworks knowledge. It's also important to stay updated on the latest front-end technologies and innovations in coding.</p><h3>Which Programming Language Is Used for Front-End Web Development?</h3><p>To create visual components on websites that users can interact with, front-end developers use a range of programming languages and libraries. Programming languages provide developers with rules and syntax to write the code. On the other hand, libraries are pre-written pieces of code that provide developers with the necessary tools to simplify and streamline the development process.</p><p>There are various languages used in front-end development. Some of the most common languages include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Regarding libraries and frameworks, the most common examples include jQuery, React, and Vue.js.</p><h3>What Do Frontend Developers Do?</h3><p>Front-end developers ensure that your site's layout and user experience is top-tier. They will ensure that whenever a client or user lands on your page, they have a good experience and an easy time finding and using different features of your web application.</p><h3>What Are Some Key Front-End Developer Skills?</h3><p>Front-end developers need to be great at problem-solving, have a creative approach to development, and have the patience to go through the ups and downs of coding a webpage.</p><h3>What Questions Should I Ask Front-End Developer Candidates During the Interview?</h3><p>The most important question to ask a front-end dev during an interview is how they can help develop your idea from scratch. That way, you have an idea of how they approach different website applications and whether they can provide you with what you need.</p><h2><br><br><br>&nbsp;</h2>

Founders & Startups: What Is Front-End Software Development?

<p>A successful design sprint is only possible with an effective design sprint team. In this guide, we outline the six critical roles you need to build your next sprint team. The five-day framework of a design sprint was originally invented by Google Ventures to help tackle design challenges before you invest tonnes of money into a project. Startups and founders across the world now use this popular problem-solving methodology, and it’s easy to see why. Design sprints help you shrink months of preparations and discussions into one focused week by bringing together experts from multiple areas and facilitating collaboration through a number of exercises.</p><p>A beneficial side effect of this is rapid decision-making. So, not only will your project launch much faster, but this style of collaborative team building sets the tone for the whole development progress upfront. Tap here to read our full in-depth step-by-step guide to the design sprint and how we use it for our customers. There are two important rules to building an effective design sprint team:</p><ol><li>The team should cover all the critical expertise.</li><li>The size shouldn’t exceed seven people.</li></ol><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/green-article/design-sprint/design%20sprint%20plan.jpg"></figure><p>Below are six critical roles you should include in your next design sprint team:</p><h2>Who should be in a design sprint?</h2><h3>The decider – product manager.</h3><p>The informal leader of the sprint team. Usually, this is a VP of Product, or the CEO of the company. Ultimately, it doesn't matter what the person's title is. But it's the person responsible for the whole product development - the one with decision-making power. Must haves:</p><ul><li>Decision-making power.</li></ul><h3>The facilitator.</h3><p>The design sprint leader. This person ensures that any pre-sprint work has been completed and that the team features all the skills and personalities it needs to be successful. There are lots of moving parts in any design sprint. Between booking conference rooms, organising lunch, taking notes, setting timers and interviewing customers, it can be tough to keep the entire project on track. The facilitator is the organisational force that keeps everything running smoothly during an intense, five-day sprint. Must haves:</p><ul><li>Organisational skills.</li></ul><h3>The customer expert.</h3><p>The one who knows your target customers. This person is the one who spends the most face-to-face time with your ideal users. They should know how to simplify the sales language, slash the jargon and step up to identify your customers' real and pressing pain points. Must haves:</p><ul><li>Past customer experience.</li><li>Ability to converse with client base.</li><li>Bonus: Marketing experience.</li></ul><h3>The design expert.</h3><p>Naturally, every design sprint team needs a talented designer. This person serves several critical roles that go beyond making things look great. They help the team visualise ideas and make abstract thoughts a reality. A great designer also helps the team stay grounded and sets expectations of what is possible and what is not. Must haves:</p><ul><li>Previous design experience.</li></ul><h3>The engineer or tech logistics expert.</h3><p>Some teams may not have an engineer among them, but there are several reasons you should include them in your next design sprint. Engineers are valuable for testing prototypes. They may also produce software, hardware and other real-world product prototypes that can help drive your sprint forward in an effective and streamlined way. Must haves:</p><ul><li>Experience testing prototypes.</li></ul><h3>The marketing expert.</h3><p>Having a great marketing expert on your design sprint team is essential. To get your product under the noses of your ideal customers, you’ll need marketing experience to help you communicate the value of your product to your target audience. Including a marketer at this early stage helps you get your product ready for market quicker. Must haves:</p><ul><li>Copywriting skills.</li><li>Bonus: previous knowledge of the market.</li></ul><p>&nbsp;</p><h3>How many people should be in my design sprint team?</h3><p>The size of your design sprint team shouldn’t exceed seven people. Adding other specialists outside of those listed above is viable, but you've got to remember the bigger your team is, the less time each team member will have to express their ideas and the more effort it will be to facilitate. As an alternative, Google Ventures recommends inviting any additional specialists for short interviews.</p><p>We hope you found this guide useful – why not share it with someone else? <a href="mailto:?&amp;subject=Check%20out%20this%20article%20&amp;body=Hey, I found this DataMix guide really useful and I think you might enjoy it too. Here's a link: https://datamix.space/blog/SWAPME">Tap here to share this article</a></p>

How to build the perfect Design Sprint team?

<p>Design Sprint 2.0 is the unofficial, but most up-to-date version of the original design sprint framework that was invented by Jake Knapp at Google Ventures in 2014. It has been proven to be even more effective than the original methodology. In this article, we go through the main differences between Design Sprint and Design Sprint 2.0 and how you can use the problem-solving framework in your next project. The original design sprint was created to help teams tackle design problems before investing money and time into creating and building. We have a complete guide on the benefits of following the five-day process and how to run a design sprint here. The most notable difference between the original process and Design Sprint 2.0 is that the latter is optimised to work not just for startups, but also for large organisations that don’t necessarily have the time to commit an entire week to the full process.</p><p><strong>In 2.0, there are two major differences:</strong></p><ol><li>The new version reduces the sprint down to a four-day process by changing up the order to make it flow easier and more efficiently.</li><li>You only need the full design sprint team for two of the days instead of the full five. This is specifically designed to cater for larger businesses with senior stakeholders who struggle to clear their calendars for the full five days. Below, we run through each design sprint process to help you decide which one is right for your next project.</li></ol><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/green-article/design-sprint/design-sprint-2.0.png"></figure><h3>What are the five stages of a design sprint?</h3><p>The original design sprint has five steps, and the idea is to spend a full day on each of the concepts.</p><p><strong>Day 1: Empathise/Understand.</strong> Learning and research – take an in-depth look at your idea, and any pre-existing research, reports or data gathered that is relevant to the project. At DataMix, we carry out a lot of preparation work in advance to make sure this session is dedicated to team discussion, rather than research.</p><p><strong>Day 2: Define. </strong>Pick one focus and stick to it. It might be tempting to try and tackle multiple challenges during one sprint, but it's a lot more efficient if you stay focused on the most critical and essential part of your product. Even if you have grand plans for your product in the future – for example, a multi-functional SaaS platform targetting different customer segments – it's important to dedicate the sprint to just one area.</p><p><strong>Day 3: Ideate. </strong>Time for the creative part – bring all your ideas to the table, even the craziest. Note down your ideas on sticky notes and start to visualise them.</p><p><strong>Day 4: Decide</strong>. Discuss all ideas in order to fully understand every idea and see if any ideas intersect. Then, vote to select the best ideas that are must-haves in your MVP.</p><p><strong>Day 5 part one: Prototype </strong>. The must-have ideas should now be visualised in a prototype. At DataMix, this is a job for a UX/UI designer and we don’t expect clients to dedicate the full day to this stage.</p><p><strong>Day 5 part two: Validate.</strong> Carry out a series of user tests and follow up with in-depth questions about your MVP. Gather feedback from users to help guide you in your next steps.</p><h3>What makes Design Sprint 2.0 different?</h3><p>The first thing you’ll notice about Design Sprint 2.0 is that Friday is gone. Of course, you can always use this extra day to tie up any loose ends, but the new version squeezes everything into four days. Two of the days are non-negotiable and remain the same as the original process – a full day dedicated to prototyping and another for testing. At DataMix, those days are completed by our team and not by the client, so it’s even less work for you. The remaining two days are split into two – with one focus area in the morning and a different one in the afternoon.</p><h3>Day 1: Learning and finding solutions.</h3><p>The first two days of a traditional design sprint are squeezed into one day in Design Sprint 2.0. This is to keep momentum and energy levels high and work more efficiently.</p><p><strong>Part 1: Define the challenge. </strong>Start out looking at expert interviews and asking ourselves, “How might we…” This helps teams take a deep dive into the problem they’re trying to solve and get a better understanding of the challenge. This is followed by creating a “passible” map of the product and choosing a focus area for the sprint.</p><p><strong>Part 2: Produce solutions. </strong>The afternoon kicks off with “lightning demos” to help you think about potential solutions to the problem. When you’ve got some standout ideas, start to visualise them in sketches ready for tomorrow.</p><h3>Day 2: Storyboarding and visualising</h3><p>Tuesday is essentially the same as Wednesday (or day three) in the original design sprint process. During this stage, you’ll start to storyboard your ideas individually and then come together to vote on which ideas are going to be used in the prototype.</p><h3>Day 3: Prototyping</h3><p>Day three of Design Sprint 2.0 is very similar to day 4 of the original process – it’s time to create the prototype. Again, this is a UX/UI designer job, and we don’t expect clients to dedicate the full day to this stage.</p><h3>Day 4: Thursday – Testing</h3><p>The final day is dedicated to user testing. This is where you can gather feedback from customers and ask questions to help guide you in your next steps. This video from AJ&amp;Smart talks about some of the most effective questions you should be asking your users in this phase:</p><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/OPJaZ4ZRcp4"><div style="height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%;position:relative;"><iframe style="height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;top:0;width:100%;" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OPJaZ4ZRcp4" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div><p>Design sprints are brilliant for helping you identify and solve key problems before investing money and time into building your full product. Startups and companies across the world have used the original design sprint to help launch successful digital products. Meanwhile, Design Sprint 2.0 is a great choice if you’re short on time, struggle to clear the calendars of some of the key stakeholders and want to optimise your process even further.</p><p><strong>DataMix develops robust applications from scratch, helping founders, startups and entrepreneurs take their ideas from MVP to enterprise scale. If you’ve got a project in mind or want help visualizing your idea, get in touch with our team.</strong></p>

Design Sprint 2.0: An even more efficient way to run a design sprint

<p><strong>A design sprint is a five-day framework to help you tackle design problems before investing tons of money and time into a project. In this article, we look at this problem-solving methodology in detail and help ambitious startup founders and project managers. We also look at how a design sprint could help them transform how they launch their next project. If you search “What is a design sprint?”, you’re met with blogs on a similar narrative: definition, process, steps and conclusion.</strong></p><p><strong>We wanted to go beyond this, revealing our real-life design sprint process and how you can follow it. In this guide, you’ll learn:</strong></p><ul><li>What is a design sprint?</li><li>Who should use a design sprint?</li><li>Are design sprints only for startups?</li><li>The importance of prototypes</li><li>Step-by-step design sprint process</li><li>An outline of the five-day process</li></ul><p><strong>When starting something new, we often fall into one of two extremes:&nbsp;</strong></p><ul><li>We focus on the obstacles in the way.</li><li>Or we charge ahead without considering the challenges.</li></ul><p>Both extremes are dangerous, whether you are starting a business or trying to snowboard. A design sprint allows you to minimise both risks by helping you unravel myths and assumptions about your endeavour before you get started. In our opinion, project planning becomes more exciting when starting with a design sprint. Boring RFPs and panning sessions become questlines with a series of creative tasks. And, they give everyone more confidence to do their best work.</p><h2>What is a Design Sprint?</h2><p>Design sprints bring clarity by allowing you to develop a hypothesis, prototype an idea and test it rapidly with as little investment as possible in as realistic as possible environment. <strong>Invented by Jake Knapp from Google Ventures in 2014, design sprints are defined as “a unique five-day process for answering crucial questions through prototyping and testing ideas with customers”</strong> as Knapp outlines in his book Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just 5 Days.</p><p>Google gives a similar definition: <strong>“a proven methodology for solving problems through designing, prototyping, and testing ideas with users”</strong> The primary objective of every design sprint is de-risking and cheap validation. We’re lucky that modern prototyping tools like Figma and InVision allow us to test a product with real users before writing a single line of code.</p><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/design-sprint/What%20is%20Design%20Sprint2.jpg"></figure><h3>Who should use a design sprint?</h3><p>Anyone can use a design sprint – when done correctly, you can apply it to new apps, packaging, business processes or even personal life. But, since we’re a digital product development company, all our examples will revolve around this topic. So, you’re an ambitious startup founder, or you’re responsible for the IT sector in a company that wants to launch a mobile app... Or, maybe you’re a project manager, and your next big project requires you to create something digital. If any of the above sounds like you, keep reading.</p><h3>Are design sprints only for startups?</h3><p>You don’t have to be a newly-established business to be a startup. In fact, once we start using the term “startup” in a much broader way, we can begin to change our mindsets and plan for success. Every time you create something new, you’re an entrepreneur. And every time you’re an entrepreneur, you’re working on a startup.</p><p>This concept is taken from Eric Ries in his book The Lean Startup: “The concept of entrepreneurship includes anyone who works within my definition of a startup: a human institution designed to create new products and services under conditions of extreme uncertainty… I believe ‘entrepreneur’ should be considered a job title within all modern companies…” It’s these “conditions of extreme uncertainty” that makes a startup founder and Netflix’s product manager similar. Let’s compare a design sprint to a spaceship launch. Your new digital product – or startup – is the spaceship itself. And to launch your spaceship, you need a project blueprint, an engineering team to build it and a professional crew to operate it. But what happens if the ship explodes mid-air? This is where a design sprint comes in...</p><h3>The importance of prototypes</h3><p>SpaceX launched 14 Starship prototypes until SN15 was a real success. A prototype is a simple-yet-effective idea: it either works, or it does not. But it answers the question above. If it works, perfect. But, if critical issues are found, you start working on them without risking your crew or cargo. According to classic DS process, prototyping is a Step #4. However, if we come back to the point that you’re dealing with a startup under “conditions of extreme uncertainty”, your goal will be to remove or minimise this uncertainty. You’re looking for what Ries calls “validated learning” - and this is one of the most valuable assets a startup can acquire. In other words, you may not have the resources to do something, but as soon as you know how to do it, it becomes a matter of realisation. Therefore, this is why we started by telling you about the importance of a prototype as a critical tool for running user tests and getting this validated learning. It’s much easier to understand the design sprint framework if you know this. So first, we do a lot of prep work to fully grasp an idea and decide what should be our current focus, then we visualise it into a prototype and finally, we get to hear what users think about it.</p><h2>Step-by-step design sprint process</h2><p>A design sprint is the structured art of bringing together the elements of success of your future startup. Below are three key ingredients you need:</p><ul><li>Fundamentals</li><li>Cross-functional team</li><li>Process</li></ul><h3>Design sprint fundamentals.</h3><p>The fundamentals of a design sprint are the principles and approaches that lie at the core of the framework:</p><ul><li><strong>Design thinking</strong> as a tool for creating human-centric products.</li><li><strong>Agile methodology</strong> for quick and flexible actions.</li><li><strong>Ongoing teamwork</strong> to fully cover all the expertise needed to solve a challenge.</li></ul><h3>A cross-functional design sprint team.</h3><p>Design sprints shrink months of preparation and discussion because they unite cross-functional teams. Using collaborative exercises, a design sprint covers a broader range of topics and often brings new opportunities to the table during brainstorming.</p><p>The side effect?</p><p>Rapid decision making.</p><p>Not only will a design sprint make your startup happen much faster, but collaborative team building also sets the tone for the whole development process upfront.</p><p>There should be no more than seven people in your team and you should consider inviting at least one of each of the following:</p><ul><li><strong>The decision maker </strong>– usually the CEO or VP of Product.</li><li><strong>A facilitator</strong> – someone who can organise everyone and facilitate the sessions.</li><li><strong>A talented designer</strong> – someone who can visualise your ideas and set expectations.</li><li><strong>An experienced engineer</strong> – someone who knows how to test and create prototypes.</li><li><strong>A customer expert</strong> – someone who knows how to speak your customers’ language.</li><li><strong>An expert marketer</strong> – someone who has marketing knowledge and experience in your industry.</li></ul><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/design-sprint%2Fdesign-sprint-team.jpg"></figure><h3>A clear design sprint process.</h3><p>A design sprint is a five-day process, but what should be done on each of these days?</p><h3>Empathise (Understand)</h3><p>This step is all about learning. Take a look at the idea, existing team developments, research and blitz reports created by each specialist. At DataMix, we do a lot of prep work ahead of the sprint, so that during the workshops our team can already discuss relevant questions and be on the same page with our client’s team.</p><h3>Define</h3><p>Define what your main focus is during this design sprint. Avoid trying to tackle everything all at once, as this will make your sprint less successful. While it’s okay to have a vision of a future SaaS platform with multiple functionalities, customer segments and several monetisation models, it’s impossible to try and start everything all together at once. Pick something critical to your customers and essential to be tested during this sprint.</p><h3>Ideate</h3><p>This step is the most creative part of the sprint. Your team should reach for the skies and bring all ideas to the table – even the craziest. Note your ideas on sticky notes or start visualising them in sketches.</p><h3>Decide</h3><p>Discuss all ideas to understand every idea and see if any ideas intersect. Then, vote to select the best ideas that are must-haves in your MVP.</p><h3>Prototype</h3><p>The must-have ideas should now be visualised in a prototype. At DataMix, this is a job for a UX/UI designer, and we don’t expect clients to dedicate the full day to this stage.</p><h3>Validate</h3><p>Carry out a series of user tests and follow up with in-depth questions about your MVP. Gather feedback from users to help guide you in your next steps. It’s no surprise that design sprints are becoming more and more popular among companies of all sizes and in all sorts of industries. Since 2016 when the methodology was published, they have been a powerful tool for teams to identify and work around “blind spots”. We hope you found this guide useful – why not share it with someone else?</p><p><strong>DataMix develops robust applications from scratch, helping founders, startups and entrepreneurs take their ideas from MVP to enterprise scale. If you’ve got a project in mind or want help visualizing your idea, get in touch with our team.&nbsp;</strong></p>

Design Sprint explained: What, when and how to apply it for problem solving

<p>Could an MVP save you thousands of pounds and months of development time? We explore the benefit of minimum viable products for software startups and founders.</p><h2>What is an MVP?</h2><p>In short, an MVP – also known as a minimum viable product – is the most basic version of your product. It has just enough features and functionality to meet the needs of your early customers. But, why would you go to the trouble of developing a basic version of your idea when you could build and launch the full version straight away? After all, it’s important to remember that while some MVPs may be able to be built in a couple of weeks, if you’re a FinTech, HealthTech or Aerospace startup, it may take longer. However, without building an MVP, you cannot test your ideas with end users and investors. Let’s take a minute to explore the benefits of MVPs for startups and entrepreneurs.</p><h2>What is the purpose of an (MVP) Minimum Viable Product?</h2><p>In software development, the goal of an MVP is to allow you a chance to collect essential information about your idea before spending lots of money and time. Launching an MVP allows you to:</p><h3>Gather early feedback from potential customers.</h3><p>With an MVP, you can get your idea under the noses of your customer very early on and receive initial feedback from your target audience. The insights you gain from testing your MVP with potential users are invaluable and allow you to make any necessary changes or adjustments to your product based on real-life customer feedback. For example, you may find that you can remove unnecessary functionality from your app or software or that you should expand on a popular feature or area. Meanwhile, speaking to customers during this early stage could uncover other ideas and push you in an entirely different – but more successful – direction from what you initially thought. All of this could prevent you from making serious and costly errors as you progress with developing your full product.</p><h3>Test your product’s viability.</h3><p>Likewise, an MVP gives you a chance to see if people will hand over their hard-earned cash for your product. Did you know, out of the 9/10 startups that fail, 42% of them say that the lack of market needs for the product was the biggest factor? While you might think your idea is genius, an MVP can confirm if it’ll solve a real-world problem and give you a return on investment. Without testing your product’s viability, you risk wasting money and time developing something that no one will use or buy.</p><h3>Build a relationship with your target audience and potential investors.</h3><p>Perhaps an overlooked benefit of creating an MVP is the fact that by talking to customers and investors early on in your business journey, you can begin to build strong customer relationships – and potentially nurture a community – with early adopters. This is brilliant for when you come to launch and market your product – you have a group of people invested and ready to buy your product.</p><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/MVP-article%2Fwhat%20is.jpg"></figure><h2>Three Key Characteristics of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)</h2><p>At DataMix, we use three main principles of successful MVP development:</p><ul><li><strong>Functional</strong></li><li><strong>Scalable</strong></li><li><strong>Investable</strong></li></ul><p>Sergii Sereda, our Marketing and Strategy Director explains each of these principles:</p><h3>Functional</h3><p>First, you need to understand the basic functionality required to provide a full user journey for your customers. Your user journey should outline everything from when the user initially signs up or logs in right up until achieving their goal/receiving their result. For example, the result/goal could be finding a customer with the help of a matchmaking SaaS platform or receiving a nutrition plan based on your blood analysis. Some steps in your user journey may be done manually and not programmed. But, ultimately, the end user should receive a full experience and – in the end – associate the service with your concrete product. You may want to use a design sprint to help you understand your idea and figure out the end product by mapping out a clear roadmap. We talk in-depth about our design sprint process in this article.</p><h3>Scalable</h3><p>Scalability is something investors love. If you build a scalable MVP, you can demonstrate that you can continue with further development right after the idea is tested and your round is closed. Developing your MVP with scalability in mind makes it easier to support your app and build new functionality that may have been discovered during testing and the design sprint. It also helps you save time on rewriting and code optimisation, which is beneficial for your pocket and much friendlier for the environment. Read about how we are taking actions to code more sustainably here.</p><h3>A quality implemented MVP from a technical point of view:</h3><ol><li>The implementation is as simple and cost-efficient as possible. But at the same time, it should be flexible and extensible.</li><li>Have the most suitable tech stack. Not only in terms of your MVP, but also the future product.</li><li>Take the decision on the selection and integration of third-party services (e.g. Stripe for payments) beforehand.</li><li>Keep in mind that this is not a “rough draft” that has been made in a hurry and will be thrown out and written from scratch after completion.&nbsp;</li></ol><h3>Investable</h3><p>At DataMix, our main goal is to provide an investable MVP for you. From a technology perspective, this means it’s built properly and there is no need to waste investors’ money on rewriting. From a functional perspective, this means you’re able to show users see the value in the product. Founders have a lot of things to prove to investors. And we try and take care of this side of things to make sure that the technology is one of the selling points of their product.</p><h2>How to build a minimum viable product?</h2><h3>Brainstorm</h3><p>Building an MVP usually starts by collecting the general requirements. This is carried out in a series of Q+A workshops, where we talk with founders about their ideas. This brainstorming stage allows us to get a general understanding of the product and formalise all your ideas on paper. It also allows developers and founders to get on the same page and set expectations regarding the functionality of the product. While it might be tempting to charge ahead and start creating a product, this brainstorming stage saves a huge chunk of time and money during the development journey.</p><h3>Visualise</h3><p>Our product managers and designers help visualise your product. We turn it into a clickable prototype, so you can actually see how your product will look.</p><h3>Build</h3><p>When you’re happy with the prototype, our Delivery team prepares the development plan and the journey starts. Our main goal is to have everything prepared beforehand to help make your budgets and timelines predictable.</p><h3>Be Flexible</h3><p>Of course, the nature of a startup means that there may be some changes along the way, but we ensure you have a general direction and clear understanding of your product once built. We try to make it as easy as possible because we know you’ll be spending time talking to investors and getting potential users onboard for launch.</p><p><strong>We've actually created </strong><a href="https://calc.datamix.space" target="_blank"><strong>PRODUCT CALCULATOR</strong></a><strong> to help you understand how your full-featured product may be built and how to optimize your cost depending on your current challenges from investors or market.</strong></p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/MVP-article%2Fcalculator.jpg"></figure><h3>What we can learn from Airbnb’s MVP.</h3><p>A classic example of an MVP in action is Airbnb. They designed their MVP to get the idea into the hands of users as quickly as possible and test their assumptions. Their assumption was: people would pay to stay with strangers. With their MVP, they demonstrated a market for paid room rentals to attract enough users to the platform. Airbnb’s first website was very basic – it didn’t even have functionality to collect payments. You had to exchange money with the host in person.</p><p>As Michael Seibel from Y Combinator points out: “Everyone tells these kind of magical stories about how everything was perfect from the beginning. Airbnb was not perfect from the beginning.”</p><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hHMwLxN6EM"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1hHMwLxN6EM" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><h2>MVP FAQs</h2><h3>What is meaning of MVP?</h3><p>MVP stands for minimum viable product and is usually a product that has just enough features and functionality to meet the needs of your early customers.</p><h3>What is the MVP used for?</h3><p>MVPs are used to help startups gather feedback from early customers, test out a product’s viability and gather interest from potential investors.</p><h3>What is the role of MVP?</h3><p>The role of an MVP is to test out a product’s viability and trial an idea before spending lots of money on development.</p><h3>What is an MVP in software?</h3><p>Software companies use MVPs to test ideas and get reactions and feedback from potential customers before launching a full-scale development project.</p>

MVP explained: The real value of a minimum viable product

<p>Software is critical to supporting a green future, but with its carbon footprint rapidly rising, do we need to think greener about the way we code? Below sustainable software developers share their top tips.&nbsp;</p><p>From tackling deforestation to reducing carbon emissions, technology - and more specifically, software - is an integral part of combatting climate change.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Over the last few decades, technology has helped us digitise a huge slice of our everyday lives - reducing our reliance on paper and natural resources.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Many of us have switched to homeworking, which in theory lowers the carbon we use to commute to and from our offices.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>However, an often-overlooked aspect of software’s green story is its mushrooming carbon footprint.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Currently, <a href="https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/lean-ict-our-new-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">digital tech is responsible for 4</a>% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions – and its energy consumption is climbing by 9% every year. &nbsp;</p><p>In 2021, <a href="https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2021/Q1/turn-off-that-camera-during-virtual-meetings,-environmental-study-says.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">research from Purdue University, Yale University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology revealed the environmental impact of video conferencing</a> – scientists estimate that an hour of video calls with the camera switched on can emit up to 1kg of CO2 (the equivalent of half a litre of petrol), two to 12 litres of water and damage the Earth’s surface the size of an iPad Mini.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>So, while apps may be reducing our need for a daily (and polluting) commute, software itself is fast becoming a major contributor to our carbon footprint. &nbsp;</p><p>In fact, it is predicted that information and communications technology <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095965261733233X?via%3Dihub" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">will account for as much as 15% of the total global carbon footprint by 2040</a>. That’s more than half of the worldwide transport sector, to put it into some context.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The core problem lies in the way we develop our software – which is good news because this is something, as software developers and product owners, we can challenge head-on.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>We need to think about the way we design, develop, and deploy if we are going to create software that truly supports our future on this planet.</p><figure class="image" style="margin:auto !important;padding:50px 0 50px 0;width:70%;"><img src="https://blog-files.ams3.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/green-article%2Fgreen2.png"></figure><h4><strong>Why should I be investing in sustainable software?&nbsp;</strong></h4><p>Aside from the obvious benefit of a greener, cleaner future, sustainable software has some clear rewards for product owners and app development companies.&nbsp;</p><p>Firstly, sustainable software reduces energy consumption, which in turn can cut down on how much you spend on energy.&nbsp;</p><p>Secondly, green software is designed to be as efficient as possible, which can translate into a higher-quality product that is even more fit for its purpose.&nbsp;</p><p>And, on top of this, a greener application helps to keep employees and stakeholders happy as a commitment to sustainability becomes more of a priority for both individuals and companies.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niRLkXWVsWs"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/niRLkXWVsWs" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p>&nbsp;</p><h4><strong>How do I develop sustainable software?&nbsp;</strong></h4><p>The conversation about sustainable software has already begun, with thought leaders sharing their insights into how to develop green software.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>We have outlined just a few to get you thinking about how you can become more sustainable in your projects.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Firstly, we spoke with Asim Hussain, Green Cloud Advocate for Microsoft about how we can start to build software that emits less carbon:&nbsp;</p><p>“Reducing carbon emissions of software and making software become a part of the climate solution requires three actions: using less physical resources, using less energy and using energy more intelligently. And the scale of the problem is enormous,” Asim tells us.&nbsp;</p><p>“It is estimated that there are <a href="https://www.daxx.com/blog/development-trends/number-software-developers-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">26.9 million software developers</a> worldwide, and the number is projected to reach 45 million by 2030. At the same time GitHub, the software development platform,&nbsp; estimates that there are <a href="https://github.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">over 73 million developers</a> worldwide, including students and part-time developers.”&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><h4><strong>Principles of Green Software Engineering.&nbsp;</strong></h4><p>Asim has created the <a href="https://principles.green/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Principles of Sustainable Green Software Engineering</a>, which is a core set of competencies needed to define, build and run green and sustainable software.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>The eight principles are as follows:&nbsp;</p><ol><li><strong>Carbon</strong>: Build applications that are carbon efficient.</li><li><strong>Electricity</strong>: Build applications that are energy efficient.</li><li><strong>Carbon</strong> <strong>Intensity</strong>: Consume electricity with the lowest carbon intensity.</li><li><strong>Embodied</strong> <strong>Carbon</strong>: Build applications that are hardware efficient.</li><li><strong>Energy</strong> <strong>Proportionality</strong>: Maximize the energy efficiency of hardware.</li><li><strong>Networking</strong>: Reduce the amount of data and distance it must travel across the network.</li><li><strong>Demand</strong> <strong>Shaping</strong>: Build carbon-aware applications.</li><li><strong>Measurement</strong> <strong>&amp; Optimization</strong>: Focus on step-by-step optimizations that increase the overall carbon efficiency.</li></ol><p>“Considering this global magnitude, it became clear to us that spreading the message of sustainable software—or as we call it, <a href="https://greensoftware.foundation/articles/what-is-green-software" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">green software</a>—is something that a few companies, however big, are unable to handle on their own. It requires a more concerted global effort,” Asim continues.&nbsp;</p><p>“This is why we started the Green Software Foundation. Building green software, and doing it to scale requires the creation of a trusted ecosystem of people, standards, tooling and best practices. The mission of the <a href="https://greensoftware.foundation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Green Software Foundation</a> is exactly that.”&nbsp;</p><h4><strong>Our strategy for sustainable coding.&nbsp;</strong></h4><p>At <a href="https://www.datamix.space/about/">DataMix</a>, we’re always looking for new ways we can become more environmentally friendly in our work:&nbsp;</p><p>“We always allocate quite a big chunk of time in terms of any major project release to involve our team leads to help optimize, refactor and review the codebase,” Delivery Director, Maksym Osovitnii explains.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>“The main target for us is to optimize the number and efficiency of operations, which reduces our electricity consumption and helps us to be more green.”&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>Meanwhile, as our Technical Director Ruslan Leliushok explains, we use Auto-Scaling when designing infrastructure for <a href="https://www.datamix.space/portfolio/">our software development projects</a> to consume less power:&nbsp;</p><p>“The principle behind Auto-Scaling is to automatically increase server power during high demand/load, to keep the performance at the same level, or to reduce the number of computational resources during times of low demand. In this way, we only use the required amount of processing power at a given time and do not consume more than necessary. It allows our solutions to be more environmentally friendly.”&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to this, we have also become <a href="https://climateaction.tech/about/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ClimateAction.tech</a> participants, which is a group of tech workers advocating climate action in companies, organisations and industries. The group has attracted a global membership of students, graduates, developers and creatives who work in tech across a wide array of industries.&nbsp;</p><p><i><strong>DataMix is a studio with a HQ in Kyiv. Please support Ukraine in its fight for freedom and visit the Ukrainian Government Initiative: </strong></i><a href="https://u24.gov.ua/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"><i><strong>https://u24.gov.ua.&nbsp;</strong></i></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p>

DataMix Blog

Founders & Startups: What Is Front-End Software Development?

How to build the perfect Design Sprint team?

Design Sprint 2.0: An even more efficient way to run a design sprint

Design Sprint explained: What, when and how to apply it for problem solving

MVP explained: The real value of a minimum viable product

How green is your code? Sustainable software developers share their top tips

Full Cycle Development