Building a mini program is a sequence rather than a single act, and knowing the sequence is what lets a client judge where a project really stands. Nine steps, in order.
1. Requirements planning
The first step is deciding what the product is for, who uses it, and what they need to be able to do. This is where the business case gets written down rather than assumed — and where most projects are quietly won or lost, because a requirement nobody articulated here becomes a change request at step six.
2. Requirements analysis
The requirements then get taken apart technically: which parts are standard, which need building, which depend on a third-party interface, which carry a compliance question. The output is a scope that can be estimated rather than a wish list.
3. Confirming the scope
The analysed scope goes back to the client for confirmation. This step exists because agreement in conversation is not agreement on paper, and the gap between them surfaces at the worst possible moment. Sign-off here is what makes the next stage safe to start.
4. Prototype design
A wireframe prototype shows structure and flow before anything is styled — which screen leads to which, where the data comes from, what the user sees when something fails. It is cheap to change at this stage and expensive to change once the interface exists.
5. UI and interaction design
Now the visual layer: layout, palette, type, component states, the detail of how a tap responds. What the client approves here is what the finished product looks like, which makes this the stage to be specific rather than agreeable.
6. Development
Front end and back end are built against the approved prototype and design, with interfaces connected as they are completed. Progress becomes measurable here for the first time, which is exactly why the earlier stages matter: a clear scope is what makes the build legible.
7. System testing before launch
Everything is tested as a whole — flows, edge cases, payment, performance on a mid-range phone rather than the developer’s own. A bug found now costs a fix; the same bug found by customers costs credibility.
8. Platform debugging
The build is submitted to the platform and run in its review and debugging environment, where settings, permissions and interfaces behave as they will in production. Review feedback arrives here too, and this is where a supplier’s experience shows most clearly.
9. Going live
Release — and then the part that never makes the list: watching the first weeks, fixing what real usage turns up, and planning the first revision. Launch is a milestone, not an ending.
What the whole sequence costs depends far more on steps one to three than on step six, because the scope is the price. Which is also why a supplier who wants to skip straight to a quotation is telling you something about how the project will go.
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