We are kicking off the new decade of the WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED podcast with a very fun topic and an even more exciting guest. Dr. Zac Fitz-Walter joined us to discuss the art and science behind increasing motivation and engagement with gamification. We touched upon different approaches to motivational design, talked about the main components of gamification, and discussed when and why it might be particularly useful to apply gamified elements in your digital product design. Enjoy!

Listen to the episode here!

This episode’s guest:

• Dr. Zac Fitz-Walter is a speaker, trainer, lecturer and gamer. He earned of the world’s first PhDs in gamification and taught several university courses on the topic.
• Zac provides companies and government organizations with workshops and guidance on how to effectively apply game mechanics and gamified elements in non-game environments.
• https://zacfitzwalter.com/

Your host:

• Marek Hasa is WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED’s marketing and behavioural adviser.
• WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED is a digital design & development company with offices in London, Amsterdam and Prague.

Follow Zac on LinkedIn here or follow him on Twitter!

The post Gamification in digital product design with Dr Zac Fitz-Walter (WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED podcast ep. 11) appeared first on WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED blog.

In the final episode of 2019, we had the pleasure to discuss the topics of growth hacking and sustainable product growth with Craig Zingerline. By virtue of his vast and varied experience in this field, Craig was able to offer us both the growth hacker and startup founder perspective.

We deconstructed growth hacking as a distinct discipline for some and a buzzword for other, took a stroll through the AARRR model, talked about the importance of sustainability and summed up some key learnings for entrepreneurs and founders in terms of marketing and growth. Enjoy!

This episode’s guest:

• Craig Zingerline is an entrepreneur, growth & product leader and Chief Product Officer at Sandboxx.
• Craig has a strong background in technology, product management, and B2B/B2C marketing & growth. Apart from his role at Sandboxx, he is also a multiple-time founder, author, and advisor on growth hacking.

Your host:

• Marek Hasa is WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED’s marketing and behavioural adviser.
• WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED is a product design & development consultancy with offices in London, Amsterdam and Prague

The post Growth hacking and sustainable growth with Craig Zingerline (WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED podcast ep. 10) appeared first on WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED blog.

What is the essence of Amsterdam’s startup scene?

The picturesque streets of the Dutch capital are not only aesthetically pleasing. They also host a tremendous amount of emerging startups, big and small, with potential that exceeds the borders of the Netherlands.

To capture the soul of the Amsterdam startup scene and understand what makes it different from its counterparts in other European capitals, we decided to approach the people who help form the scene on a daily basis. We hand-picked 10 interesting professionals who are invested in the local ecosystem to varying degrees, with roles ranging from founders to strategists and marketing specialists.

Read their thoughts and anecdotes about the Amsterdam startup scene.

Sander van der Blonk
Angel Investor, Founder @ Scoutely

I have played the entrepreneurial game since the early ‘90s. And the sizzling Amsterdam startup scene has been instrumental in getting and keeping me going.

Amsterdam is very much an international city with plenty of start-up and app development companies. It’s pretty easy to get around and to connect with fellow founders.

I believe that collaboration excellence is the key to future growth. And one of the recent additions to the Amsterdam startup scene is Cumulus Park; A collaborative innovation district in Amsterdam southeast. It aims to help companies and organizations that are different find common ground and build new ventures in Urbanism and Digital Identity together. It has far less to do with technology than it does with forging meaningful human relationships. That’s Amsterdam at its best.

Zara Enegmouchi
Account Manager @ Tripaneer

Have you ever had that wanderlust feeling at the airport? When you are surrounded by people who radiate their culture and share their languages with you who are all embarking on various journeys, you have the opportunity to perceive and learn, all at the same time! All my life, I have wanted to have that feeling permanently.

For me, Amsterdam has been the answer. My personal example of this is the experience of working at Tripaneer, a travel start-up company in Amsterdam, that has given me this opportunity. At Tripaneer, we are dedicated to creating new experiences, discovering ourselves in different environments, enriching our knowledge, and meeting people. The wide variety of trips we offer is due to the experiences of Tripaneer’s diverse employees.

Therefore, it is necessary to be surrounded by other cultures for learning and innovation. In fact, the most important part is the collaboration of the team and cultural interaction. This is a fundamental part of the company that helps us engage with the product. Because after all, we all want to experience the constant inspiring cultural diversity that you feel at the airport.

And Amsterdam is the point of arrival, meeting, and departure!

Abigail Blackburn
Public Relations Manager @ SkinVision

Before relocating abroad, I visited Amsterdam and like most people, was blown away by the gorgeous canals, charming architecture, and fascinating culture. When I came to learn about the countless successful startups and scale-ups, coupled with the headquarters of many world-renowned corporations, it seemed to embody the perfect business ecosystem. The scene here is encapsulated by its strong international culture and drive for innovation, the ideal opportunity for internationals like myself.

The benefit of working at a startup as a young adult is having the freedom to contribute equally and make an impact. Most companies in Amsterdam offer a healthy work-life balance, and not to mention the quality of life here is fantastic. Have you tried biking in the city? Your daily work commute can become almost therapeutic.

I personally love working in Amsterdam Noord. Each morning, commuters and travellers alike hop on the ferry, off to their next destination, mine being SkinVision. The ferry ride gives me time to catch up with colleagues, or contemplate my day, practice gratitude and think about my goals while enjoying a spectacular view of the IJ river.

Corbin Norman
Performance Marketer @ bunq

Amsterdam is a vibrant city full of history, architecture and of course, bicycles. This is a well-known but to my surprise when relocating in 2018 was its designation as the 4th most active startup hub in Europe. Now properly settled along the canals, I’ve taken notice. The biggest job creator, exceptional quality of life, international tech talent, and government-supported startup visa, all were pivotal reasons for my decision to remain.

Whether securing necessary documentation or accessing the financial system (thanks bunq!), the feeling of community brought comfort and serenity which allowed more time to connect with the startup scene. Nevertheless, there are still areas where the ecosystem can improve. Last year, Dutch startups raised €750 million but only 19% of the Dutch startups attracted venture capital. Talking with VCs, some suggest Dutch startups aren’t necessarily competing amongst themselves but doubters who challenge their ability to successfully create value outside their home country and Europe like their counterparts from United Kingdom and Germany. Opinions yes, but holds some truth. I believe support organizations, specifically government and industry are best positioned to ensure Dutch startups prove the naysayers wrong.

Marjolein Pleune & Kaline van Halder
Co-founders @ Meet Jack

The Amsterdam startup scene, and in particular the food startup scene is, in my opinion, truly exceptional and thriving. The startup ecosystem over the last decade has grown into a renowned, well established and well functioning breeding place for startups. Before I, together with my co-founder Marjolein, embarked on the entrepreneurial journey of Meet Jack, i was a programme manager active in the Amsterdam social enterprise & impact investment ecosystem organising incubation & accelerator programmes, innovation tours & startup trade missions. Based on my 10-year plus experience, I am convinced that Amsterdam offers all the right tools, programmes and capital support.

With Meet Jack, we made extensive usage of this ecosystem, joining the Business Model Challenge (a 3-months incubation programme at the Impact Hub Amsterdam) to move from idea into a tangible business model with potential. 18 months later we were selected for the Investment Ready Programme for food startups, which is an accelerator preparing us for the next growth phase. We are part of the 200 women-led & diverse startups listed in the bid book of the #FundRight fund. We are members of the Impact Hub Amsterdam community and worked out of the Kitchen Republic (a co-work space for food startups). We consider ourselves actively involved in the impact startup community and learn, share & exchange our experiences and failures openly. Alone you go faster, together you go further.

Alexandra Belicova
Partnerships & Event Lead @ Startup Amsterdam

Over the last 4 years, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing the Amsterdam startup ecosystem grow, evolve and mature. We witnessed our unicorns becoming public; more and more people founding startups; the growth of local accelerators, hubs and communities; more tech talent coming in, more corporates getting involved and more capital becoming available to startups. Working for StartupAmsterdam – an initiative from the Municipality of Amsterdam – has allowed us to not only see it all unveil before our very eyes, but play an active role in facilitating the right connections.

There are many factors that make a great startup ecosystem, but what people generally tend to agree on is that entrepreneurs need communities and like-minded people around them. Thanks to Amsterdam’s relatively small size and excellent accessibility by public transport, as well as our favourite means of transportation, the bicycle, meeting the right people and making the most relevant connections is an easy feat. It doesn’t hurt either that Amsterdammers, both Dutch and internationals, are famous for their open-minded and collaborative nature. What we at StartupAmsterdam like to say is that, in Amsterdam, “everybody is a coffee away”, so invest early in your relationships and the Amsterdam startup scene will welcome you with open arms.

Bas van Marissing
Commercial Product Manager @ YTS

If you are passionate about tech and you want to work in the fastest growing start-up hub, Amsterdam is the place to be. Recently named as the best European tech city and listed in the top 5 tech hubs globally, Amsterdam has become the new Silicon Valley and – as a Dutch citizen myself – I am not surprised about it. The city offers to young, ambitious talents all they might need to dream big, including amazing chances to interact with other start-ups and build meaningful business collaborations. As home of a couple of the biggest banks in the Netherlands and Europe (e.g. ING), Amsterdam has become increasingly involved in boosting new fintech-businesses. I also believe start-ups have a bigger chance of success if they partner with other techs and the right investors, both largely available in Amsterdam.

Our company, YTS (Yolt Technology Services), an ING venture, is an example of that brave mentality that attracts international Fintech talents with game-changing ideas to revolutionize the markets. YTS is the leading open banking provider in Europe, building, managing, and maintaining AIS and PIS connections for top financial institutions and ambitious tech. Our mission is to bring the benefits of open banking to businesses across Europe, what a better place than vibrant Amsterdam to kick off our international scaling?

Flavia Paganelli
Founder & CTO @ 30MHz

Building a startup is exciting but hard work. It keeps you so busy that time seems to go very fast. This means I’m not very active in startup community events. But a few months ago I was invited to tell our story in one, and I was amazed by how much interest it sparkled. I met many curious, talented people with an entrepreneurial mindset wanting to join us. It’s no surprise that Amsterdam is among the top 10 startup cities in the world. I only wish that more women would participate, but I do see that improving, for example in the number of women or diversity-friendly meetups being organized.

Ayaan Hanewald
SEO Specialist @ Yellowgrape

I love to work in Amsterdam’s tech start-up scene. Networking is a breeze in Amsterdam which means you’re never too far away from another tech expert to bounce ideas off. Next to that, you have so many engaging and fun events to go to. You will meet people with different backgrounds like UXers, Growth Hackers or developers. They are all open to new ideas but also not scared for a fun party in the city.

I grew up in Amsterdam and see the city as a big village where news travels fast and at the same time it is a creative and safe environment to grow. I have seen Amsterdam becoming more popular for expats in the last few years and I see it as a win. In my network, I have people from Spain, America, Australia and South America. The world is coming to Amsterdam and you can only learn from it.

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For this episode, we invited Clement Kao from Product Manager HQ and Blend to share his vast pile of insights and experience with product management. We talked about the importance of being data-informed instead of data-driven, the value of qualitative insights for different types of startups and some key digital product management tips for entrepreneurs and startup founders. This one is really packed with useful tips, enjoy!

Listen to this episode:

This episode’s guest:

• Clement Kao is a Co-Founder at Product Manager HQ, a community dedicated to providing career advice for aspiring product managers and experienced product managers. 
• He’s written 60+ best practice articles and has been a featured speaker and writer for more than 15 different organizations. 
• Outside of Product Manager HQ, Clement is also a Product Manager at Blend, a San Francisco-based startup that partners with lenders and technology providers to re-imagine consumer finance.
• You can follow Clement on his LinkedIn or Product Manager HQ’s twitter.

Your host:

• Marek Hasa is WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED’s marketing and behavioural adviser.
• WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED is a product design & development agency with offices in London, Amsterdam and Prague

The post The value of data-informed product management with Clement Kao (WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED podcast ep. 9) appeared first on WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED blog.

We invited Sergey Shchelkov from Epom Ad Server to discuss the current trends and future prospects of the online advertising world. We touched upon the ad-blocking phenomenon, efficiency of the most popular ad formats, programmatic buying, the rise and fall of ad servers and the future of digital ads with 5G on the horizon. 

Your host:

• Marek Hasa is WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED’s marketing and behavioural adviser.
• WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED is a product design & development consultancy with offices in London, Amsterdam and Prague
• https://pixelfield.co.uk

This episode’s guest:

• Sergey Shchelkov is Sales Executive at Epom Ad Server and Epom DSP with a hands-on, data-driven approach and deep knowledge of the programmatic landscape. He is responsible for all global advertising sales efforts and partnerships.
• https://epom.com

Listen here:

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In this interview with Marek, WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED’s behavioural expert, we discuss how gamification can help you with your app development process. Don’t forget to subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, or you favourite platform.

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How can behavioural science be applied to mobile app design and development? Why is it beneficial to strengthen your UX team with a behavioural expert and how is the diffusion of the digital and physical worlds influencing our behaviour? 

Marek Hasa

Marek is WASH & CUT HAIR SALOON LIMITED’s behavioural expert and a teacher of persuasive communication at the University of Amsterdam.

Marek, please tell me how can behavioural science help us to design more inviting and exciting mobile experience?

Well, one could easily write a whole book when replying to such a question! Let’s start broad. In one sentence, it helps us understand how and why people interact with an app in a certain way and subsequently adjust the environment based on empirical evidence. 

The power of behavioural science lies in its ability to map out the network of interconnected behaviours our target users move around in every day and understand their motivations to engage in all the different actions, as well as the barriers that prevent them from doing other competing behaviours. It supplies us with frameworks with which we can understand the mental processes behind every user action within the app – both conscious and automatic. And finally, it provides us with a useful toolbox of well-evidenced tactics often derived from behavioural economics – so-called nudges, subtle adjustments to the UI or UX which help us adjust user behaviour within our app.

Does this mean that it covers the UX research and user testing, but from a more broad and scientific point of view?

That’s one way to see it, yes. I would argue that behavioural science is a much broader field which can be applied in many different settings and for various purposes. The goal of UX research and user testing is to understand the behaviour and motivations of users within the app and to validate our assumptions. And behaviour science can help us with that. You can see it as a source of helpful frameworks and theoretical and empirical insights for which we can reach out when conducting UX research and working on the UX/UI design of an app. It’s also important to say that the use of behavioural science in digital design is not a brand new trend – many of the insights are already widespread and well-known among UX designers.

From the product owner’s point of view – what are the benefits of having a behavioural expert on the team, working with UX designers and product designers?

I believe that in many cases, UX and product designers will do fine without any behavioural people on board. If you’re dealing with a constrained budget and the user journeys you’re designing are rather simple, then you can just rely on your UX designer’s knowledge of the essential behavioural principles. 

However, if the challenges you’re trying to solve get more complex, I highly suggest teaming up with a person who can not only map out current vs. desired behaviours but also uncover hidden psychological mechanisms and deep-rooted motivations specific for all your personas. Behavioural specialists are equipped with the right toolkits to dig deeper and bring your design optimization process to another level.

Can you give me some examples of problems that would benefit from having a behavioural expert on board?

You can think of any UX challenge that is too difficult to solve without a thorough understanding of users’ motivations, barriers and the underlying mechanisms of their current behaviours. A challenge that might be too complex for the lenses of digital design.

For instance, the website of your political candidate might be struggling with increasing the number of subscribed volunteers for the campaign. Or it may be that your e-commerce app is failing to push people to also adding recommended accessories and other products that might complement the one they are already about to purchase. 

You can try solving both of these challenges just by rethinking the user journey a bit or adjusting the CTAs of your interface. But chances are you won’t be as successful as if you decide to dig deeper and understand the key mental processes that direct your users’ actions.

As a behavioural expert, can you think of some example situations in which people behave differently in the digital environment than in real life?

Digital products such as apps and websites often capitalize on their ability to craft and highlight the sense of urgency and prompt people to quick action. Social media have taught us to actively seek instant gratification when spending time on our mobile or desktop devices. When browsing through an e-commerce app or website, we’re much more prone to acting on triggers communicating scarcity or time-limited offers compared to an offline store situation. Generally speaking, people tend to be more driven by their emotions in digital environments and base their judgment and actions even more on heuristics and salient cues.

Based on this importance of emotions and heuristics, can you give our readers some tips on what to be careful about when working on a new digital product?

Never assume that your user is a fully rational being. Invest a lot of time and energy into learning about the situations in which they interact with your digital product or service. Understand their motivations and aspirations, the short-term ones might be even more important in digital environments. And try to hit the sweet spot when nudging your users with the right cues that are also beneficial for them – make sure you don’t overshadow your products and services with overly annoying prompts and aggressive design.

There’s no doubt that we’re getting more and more immersed in the digital world. Can you think of examples of how that affects our behaviour in real life?

I would say that every single aspect of our lives is already greatly influenced (some might even say “determined”) by digital technologies. It’s actually much harder to think of the opposite examples – is there anything in our lives that has still remained untouched by the digital world? 

Following up on my previous answers, I think people have become more strongly oriented towards short-term goals and instant gratification. They require more action and intensity in their daily lives – the amount they’re used to from their smartphones and laptops. And despite their rich social interactions online, their real-life relationships are weaker, they don’t invest enough energy into maintaining healthy friendships and family relations. But those are all merely general trends that definitely don’t apply to everyone.

How are the young generations, born into an informational and technological society, different from the older ones? How can we take this into account when designing new products for them?

That’s an incredibly broad topic that would deserve its own article, backed up with some interesting insights coming from hard data. But to give you a very general answer again, I think that some of the rather negative trends I mentioned in my previous answer apply to them more than to the older generations. On the other hand, they’re also naturally much better equipped when it comes to handling new technologies. It’s easier for them to process all the intensive flows of media content and urgent prompts because it’s been a part of their life since early childhood. They can easily adopt emerging technology and navigate through an innovatively designed digital product.

What can we expect from the connection of behavioural science and app design, UX and UI design?

Miracles, of course! On a more serious note, I think it very much depends on the type of project you’re dealing with and all its challenges. I can easily imagine that some rather simple digital products don’t really need any scientific behavioural input, especially in the first phase and even more so if they’re being built on a tight budget. Sometimes it might be better to just keep things as simple as possible at the beginning and kick-off the first version of the product without getting tangled up in psychological mechanisms and hidden motivations. But in that case, it may be wise to team up with a behavioural expert when analysing the first batch of data and deciding on the adjustments and additional features for future releases. Having someone familiar with behavioural science on your team can give your design process much more depth and save you huge amounts of money – sometimes the tiniest adjustment in the user journey or page layout can solve a problem you’ve been stuck at for months.

Which technology do you think is going to shape our behaviour and our experience in the upcoming decade?

Not that I am an expert on future technological trends but from the perspective of a behavioural designer, I am very much looking forward to augmented reality becoming a mainstream part of our daily lives. As soon as 5G becomes truly wide-spread, I believe we are about to see many new applications of augmented reality at home, on the streets or at work. And it will be very interesting to witness and study how our behaviour and the products and services we use adjust to this large-scale blending of digital environments and real life.

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I’ve worked on so many projects that it’s hard to pick only one. I enjoy cooperation with the Dutch agency Li Moon, supplying us with interesting projects with thoughtful designs that are easy to be transformed into little Pattern Labs. Thanks to Pattern Labs I can easily expand the sites if needed. Other project I enjoyed was website for Prague Municipal House, where I finally tried CSS property display: grid; of course with flex fallback.

I also became more interested in the UX / UI design. I designed some prototypes. I liked working on the prototype of the Feedmetoo mobile application, where I had plenty of space to combine new ideas with established application design practices.

You like to create Pattern Labs, can you describe what it is and what does it bring to the client?

Website creation is largely re-using of the same elements, only slightly modified. Ordinary button may have a magnifying glass in the search, in the basket there might be different background color. A Pattern Lab is a way to organize all these elements, small and large, and modify them.

For a client, this might mean a bit slower start of work, but in the future it means certainty that the code of all pages will not grow much in size and will remain clear. Pattern Lab over time prevents 5 different forms appearances, because in one place we see that text fields, buttons and headings already have their appearance defined. So new modifications will not be so complicated.

Where, on the contrary, do clients lose the most time? Do you know of something that comes to you as a futile job?

Sometimes it may happen that the client does not have all the resources for the website, or does not exactly know what he wants. Unnecessary work would be to nod this thing and try to work with it. However, we avoid this and we try to always guide the client in the right direction.

What technology do you see as a trend for this year?

This year it will be a progressive web applications – a website that can behave as a desktop / mobile application (available offline, with notifications, etc.). I underwent PWA training by Ray Viljoen. In addition to having learned PWA creation process, I also learned a very important fact that never occured to me before.

Lots of users after buying the phone visit App Store or Google Play only once or twice. They download Facebook and a few other essentials, and then never turn on the store again. Getting a new app to these users is very complicated. With PWA we can get back to these users again. In addition, PWA is easier to develop than a common mobile application, so the client can save or invest more money in its tuning, marketing, or other features.

But I also think the chosen technologies are not so important these days. We already have a bunch of great tools to work with. Now it’s all about choosing the right ones and using them right so that we can maintain them easily in long time process.

And what are your personal goals?

Well, there are plenty of them! I want to get more into the world of JavaScript frameworks, I want to improve in designing the user interface. I also plan to learn how to develop simple games using HTML5 and JavaScript. But these are actually professional goals, right?

Personal goals for this year are to move to a new apartment, to make a few trips (Iceland, Masurian lakes, Tatra Mountains, Bohemian Forest), to finish the game Kingdom Come Deliverance and meet at least part of all the professional goals.

Well, good luck with that.

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We have started the company about five years ago. It was mostly fun at the beginning and we were not really serious about it. I was a law student at the time and I wanted to earn some money and work with friends from high school who became developers. But after few simple websites more complex project came along and it became a full-time job I love. We took every challenge and now few years later were tech. partner for some great companies and strat-ups and we are helping many businesses to adapt to new technology.

Are there any projects you are proud of?

I like all the projects we work on. But I am really proud when a client has a problem and we are able to come up with a solution fast. I am also proud of our development process. We are able to come up with a great MVP really fast and that is what clients need. Prove the concept, get the feedback. And go from there.

What kind of pizza do you like the most?

I am not really a pizza guy. The best pizza I’ve every had was in Naples, Italy. It was just a simple Margherita – tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. But it was so good. I need to go back there just because of this great experience.

Do you sleep in the office sometimes?

I do!

What kind of clients do you like the most?

I like positive people that are full of energy. The best customer for me is someone who really likes his work or business and who is passionate about the product. On the other hand I think I am able to get along with anyone. What I do not like are people or companies where no one really cares about the result.

What do you do when you are not at work?

I love travelling. I love to see new places, it gives me a new perspective. When I feel tired I just plan a trip and it can even be a short one. Backpack, laptop and I’m ready to go to the airport. I also love mountains. Alps in the summer – beautiful.  

I have an app in mind. What will our meeting look like?

I guess you will want to sign NDA :). And after that I will try to get to know you, your business and your goals. It’s necessary to be on the same page. If you don’t work with the client or don’t like the idea you will never end up with a good result.

What are you goals this year?

I have so many! We’ve got some great apps in development and I want them to turn out as good as possible. Also some new team members are coming so I want to see them fit in smoothly. You never know what’s going to happen. But I’m sure it’s gonna be challenging and entertaining.

And what about the personal goals?

I want to visit India finally. I’ve been planning that for some time already, so I hope I will be able to make it this year. It’s going to be just for a week or two but I still think it’s gonna be great.

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It’s almost the same as every weekend, I’m working. We’re just finishing up one big mobile app and launching it on Tuesday, so we are working on last bugs.

How do you balance work and personal life? Is possible at all?

It depends. My work life is very much connected with the personal one. I try not to work at home, but I am always in touch with clients and almost always ready to solve urgent problems. It is not possible to separate it and I do not want to, work is my life.

What do you do when you have some free time?

There is not much of free time for me. I go either to ride a motorbike or play in a theater, which is not quite typical for a developer, but it is a great way to clean up your head and then better focus on work.

How did you like the 2017?

We did a lot of phone apps, which was great. This year, I worked primarily on them and used all the knowledge I have gained so far. We primarily made hybrid applications that I personally prefer because of their benefits.

Where do you see opportunities for 2018?

The biggest innovation is clearly PWA, a progressive web application. It is not a brand new technology, rather better use of contemporary technologies.

Would you recommend PWA instead of a native application?

This is not an easy question, it is always necessary to know the specific case. But I dare to say that many applications would work great as PWA. The biggest advantage I can see is that all the platforms – iOS, Android and computers with any system – are dealt within one implementation.

On the other hand, where would you not use PWA?

So primarily for 3D games or games where high performance is needed. For example, if the application is almost entirely based on mapping, then it is better to build it on this native element and give the user a better experience.

How has mobile app development changed in recent years?

It has expanded a lot. Mobile apps are not just a matter of interest today, it’s what most people are using on daily basis.

What technologies of the last years most influenced your life?

I was most affected by hybrid technology – the Cordova platform and the Ionic framework. Above it all, the second one is developing at a lightning pace and its use is more than joyful every day.

Have you made some resolutions in the New Year?

I did not. I’m not a person who needs an opportunity to change things. When I want something, I will do it or change it. Sometimes it’s not quite easy, but it’s still better than waiting for the end of the year to change my mind.

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