Part II. Web Application to Web Service
Creating a prototype is very challenging, but its not sufficient. Many companies fail to actually create a service, because they simply take a prototype and add more features to satisfy the demands of the users. Transforming a prototype into a product is what I call the app to service phase, and it takes more than just piling on features. An application is just a point tool that a user uses to complete a few simple tasks, which is why I liken it to a prototype, which is fine if that’s your goal. But if your goal is to create a product that has an ever growing user base then you have to broaden your thinking from features to logistics.
Despite what your product’s goal is there are inevitably three areas that will influence the evolution of you software’s architecture:
1. The growth rate of your user base
2. Data processing and storage
3. Company growth, and more specifically how quickly you grow your engineering team
