Schedule appointments - Interview with the developer of a fantastic app

Did you have any prior development or coding experience?

My programming experience is over 20 years. I have been programming for the Android mobile platform for more than 8 years. Started literally from the first versions of this system. I follow with interest the development of technologies on this platform and its evolution. For two decades, I have managed to participate in many different IT projects. Having so much experience in development, you understand that a programming language is not so important. It is important to understand the principles of reliable programming and knowledge of basic algorithmic solutions.

What was the most challenging aspect of developing mobile app?

This project has been a challenge for me from the very beginning. This application is essentially a whole CRM system in your pocket. The application consists of more than 80 activities and contains more than 120 tables in the database. It is difficult to imagine, but all this decreases in only 6 MB. The size of the application was critical. I count on the audience of users from developing countries, where are frequent problems with poor internet connection. In addition, one of the most complex technical architectural solutions was the task of implementing the stable operation of the application with both an external database located on internet servers and offline operation of the application without an internet connection.

_{Alexey Kiselev}

As a teenager I became interested in programming. Participated and won the Russian Olympiads in algorithmic problems. Supervised the development of large software products. Now I teach at the university, I am engaged in translations and journalism. I also create my own IT projects.

Name a few of your favorite apps and reason you love them.

I like small and even tiny applications created to solve one problem. And doing it masterly. But in response to the question, I still call 'Evernote' and 'Telegram'. I use them for a long time and have already managed to get used to and love. It seems to me that these are examples of fairly high-quality applications made by very professional people. These applications are not ashamed to be guided as samples of the right solutions.

How long have you been working on this app?

Work on creating the application took almost a year and a half. Several times it was necessary to change the application philosophy and, as a result, completely transform UI. I can not say that I am completely satisfied with the current result, but now the application looks decent and meets the principles of Material Design - this is an application interface development standard promoted by 'Google'.

What need of the user did you have in mind when developing this app?

There are many people providing various services to other people. As a rule, they keep records of appointments with or for other people. Conceiving the application, I wanted to create a smart assistant, able to simplify this process and take on routine tasks. This is not an entertainment application. It is designed to help people do their daily work. Unlike entertainment or social applications that aim to delay the user for as long as possible, the goal of my application is to complete the task as quickly as possible.

In what way do you think your app is better than similar apps on the market? Please describe in detail what innovation you think you bring and what you are proud of in your app.

If you search in any app store, you can find about a dozen apps created to solve similar problems. However, they do it in a completely different way, they have a different philosophy, different algorithms, and a different design. Using them, the user gets a completely different experience. I will not argue that this experience is worse or better, because it is just a matter of taste and habit.

Before creating the application, I analyzed similar applications for a long time, making long lists of what they thought was done correctly and what was wrong. It was interesting for me to dive into the brains of other developers and try to understand their reasoning when they were developing their applications. I cannot say that I took the best from them - I did not have such a task. It would be more correct to say that I tried to offer my solution, which is as different as possible from theirs.

What are your future plans and expected features of the coming new versions of this app?

The main tasks I am working on now are adapting the application to common languages and integrating with popular communication and social platforms. Work is also continuing on optimizing data synchronization algorithms with servers. In addition, as a professional developer, I am constantly working on the application code, refactoring it, simplifying and returning the so-called “technical debt”.

Assuming new users of your app are reading this page. What do you want to ask them to do (contact you about X, Share the app, etc.)?

I would really like to get more feedback from people who have installed and used the application. It is important for me to know if I understood their needs correctly and found the best way to solve them. It is also important for me to understand whether it is convenient to use the application and whether its internal logic is understandable.

I will be glad to read any constructive criticism that will help make the application better. I am also open to any rational suggestions on how to improve the user experience. I can not promise that I will implement all requests for functionality. After all, it is important that all users need these capabilities, not just one. But in general, I am focused on attentive dialogue with the audience of users of the application.