What type of development is included on the Maintain and support plan?

This plan includes development to maintain and ensure the continued running of an addon. This means handling bugs or breaking changes that comes from your own service, or that of the host platform. An example of this would be changing their authentication method for API requests, just like Airtable in early 2024.

Security is another area that's covered. Software vulnerabilities are being discovered all the time. Packages, services, or libraries are monitored and updated to ensure your addon is safe for users.

Overall, you can think of this as the 'set and forget' option.

What type of support is included on the Maintain and support plan?

Users trust and appreciate addon publishers that engage with them. Top rated addons frequently come with comments like "Great support from the developers!". Each platform comes with their own community forum or discussion channel. We maintain a presence in these channels to field questions. This has the secondary benefit of helping potential users discover the addon, your service, and help build trust in your products.

What type of development is included on the Build, iterate, support plan?

This plan includes development to build and improve the addon from the ground up. From version 1 to version n - you steer the development by adding requests to the development board.

Typically, an addon will rely on the host platform's API and, potentially, that of your own service. This plan does not include the development of non-addon software, for example, setting up a separate server or web-application to handle API requests from the addon. If you need a web-application or an API-service to be developed then that's something we can chat over, but its not part of this plan.

What else is included on the Build, iterate, support plan?

Addons need to be approved before they go live on any given marketplace. Major version updates may also need to undergo a review process. We handle this process and ensure your addon is built according to the target platform's guidelines and in-line with 3rd-party publisher terms.

Once your addon is ready to be published we provide you with user-guide content - feature descriptions, screenshots and a screencast video to support and inform users.

Do you take on existing addons?

In general, yes. We're happy to bring an existing addon under either the 'Maintain and support' or the 'Build, iterate, support' plans. If the addon uses a technology stack we're not familiar with, we may refer you on to someone else though.

If there's no upfront development cost for new addons, when are payments due?

The first payment is due when the addon is published. We require a deposit for addon build and publishing. This deposit is equal to one month's build subscription. This deposit can be used towards the first payment. Subsequent payments are due every 30 days.

How long will it take to publish my addon?

It depends. First, on the complexity of the addon. Second, on the turnaround time of the app-review process. A review cycle can be from a number of business days up to two weeks depending on the platform. As much as we aim to get the addon published on first submission, this may not always be the case. We advise clients not to expect publication on first submission.

Regarding the complexity of the addon, we take the approach of building a lightweight version first. This means we can get it through the review and publication process early. This means your presence is established on platform and we can catch any review issues early on. Once its up and running we continue to iterate and add features.

What should be considered before committing to build on a platform?

In short, Capabilities, Audience, and Terms:

Capabilities - the capabilites of an addon will depend on what the host platform offers. You'll want to make sure you can actually build the features you have in mind.

Audience - each platform has its own user base that may or may not align with who you serve. Naturally you'll want to target platforms with user bases that area a match your products and services.

Terms - terms differ from platform to platform. In general, you'll find stipulations regarding points such as storing/protecting data, financial transactions, API rate limits, ads, contacting users, etc.

If you'd like help with any of the above, do book a call so we can point you in the right direction.

How do you maintain quality output?

We draw on extensive development experience and knowledge of web-standards. Almost all platforms have guidlines designed to ensure addons provide a great experience for users.

This typically includes accessibility e.g. appropriate colour contrast, labelling, keyboard control, etc. Guidelines may also include stipulations on interactions. For example, showing a loading icon or message when the app is in a waiting state.

The details matter. If addons don't meet these guidelines they are rejected by review teams. This means the addons we build need to meet the expectations of both you (our clients), as well as the review teams of host platforms!

How is a new addon project managed?

At the outset of a new project we set-up a call to learn more about you, what you'd like to achieve, and core requirements for your an addon.

Following this call we ask you to submit resources to support addon development e.g. graphic assets, wireframes, and API documentation (if applicable).

From this point, tasks are itemised and added to a kanban board where we can communicate asynchronously. You can use the board to add and update requests.

What does unlimited requests mean?

This means that you can send in as many requests as you like. Each request queued and worked on one-by-one.

How does the turnaround time work?

The turnaround time for completion of a request depends on the task complexity, but it usually takes us 2-3 business days to start working on each request.