Running a Successful iOS Consulting Company: A Top App Dev Interview

Making Apps

Do you ever make your own apps?

We started out making our own apps and did a lot of that before the consulting side really took off. Empirical Development has a product division arm called Dragon Forged Software, where we mostly make tools for iOS and Mac developers such as Resolve and Slender.

We also have some games, notable EOL products such as Transactions and Handshake, and even a data recovery app. We try to scratch our own itches with our products and write tools that we will use everyday.

When we see an empty spot in the market and we want software to accomplish something we just go ahead and make it. We also have a whole host of internal non-public products that we use to help us create bid documents and track employee effectiveness.

Your company all works remotely, correct? What tools or tricks do you use to effectively communicate as a team while making apps?

Yes we are a purely US and Canadian based remote team. It has taken many years to get the systems working to a point where we are more effective than an under one roof team. While we use many tools in order to get the job done some stand out more than others:

• We use Adium/iChat/Messages for one on one communication, as well as email.
• For group collaboration we use 37 Signal’s Campfire with the Mac OS X Propane written by our own Trevor Squires.
• Freshbooks is used for tracking time and budgets as well as payroll and invoicing.
• For ticket tracking we use LighthouseApp with ResolveApp, another one of our own products.
• A shared group calendar is also heavily used for time off and vacations as we are also a flextime with unlimited vacation company.
• Facetime and Google Hangouts have also become an important tool for us, sometimes you just need to see people face to face.
• In addition we try and foster an active employee community through an in house wiki and a company wide weekly Team Fortress 2 death match.

I have worked in many offices both large and small and the systems we have setup provide a very personal close community of employees. If I could start everything from the ground up again I would go telecommute again for sure.

To what do you attribute the success the apps your company has created in the past?

Attention to detail. There is really no great secret to being a successful developer other than that. It is easy to write code that performs a certain task, it is much harder to write something that performs quickly, responsively, with a low memory front print and looks beautiful while doing it. If you don’t care about the products you are making there is nothing setting you apart from everyone else.

You need to always be asking yourself what can be better, what other options are there, is this really the best we can do? I often tell my staff, “Not good enough”, which shouldn’t be taken personally, its a challenge to keep pushing yourself, keep your standards high and hold others to them.

When a piece of code works as intended, for a lot of developers its the end of that task, for us its just the beginning. If you are just copying and pasting in code from Goggle and throwing in whatever open source libraries you can find without fully understanding what they are doing how can you be confident in your product. Your software is a reflection of you, what do you want it to say about yourself?

Final Advice

What advice would you have for developers just starting their own consultancy?

Make friends, your friends and connections will determine whether you succeed or fail. Attend conferences, meet ups, CocoaHeads, become active on the forums and newsgroups. When you are in a rough spot you want to be able to reach out to a network of well wishers to get help with a bug, bringing in an extra hand, or asking for a client referral.

Over the last decade there are many times where a friend has stepped in and saved us from certain disaster. Being outgoing and friendly to everyone you meet, especially those that seemingly can’t help is one of the most valuable things you can do to ensure your success.

Where To Go From Here?

And that concludes our second Top App Dev Interview. A huge thanks to Kyle for contributing!

If you are an app developer with a hit app or game in the top 100 in the App Store, we’d love to hear from you! Please drop us a note anytime.

We hope you enjoyed this interview, and that you take Kyle’s advice to heart and become a part of the iOS community!