Why does this belong on a phone?
Name the mobile advantage: camera, location, notifications, offline access, proximity, field use, or frequent short actions. If the answer is only “customers use phones,” a responsive web product may be the better first release.
What is the repeat action?
Home-screen space is earned through a useful repeated behavior. Describe the action, its frequency, and the trigger that brings the person back. This shapes navigation, notification strategy, and the first-run experience.
What must work with a weak connection?
Decide what the person can view or do when the network is slow or absent, how queued changes appear, and how conflicts resolve. Offline behavior changes architecture; it is expensive to pretend it is a final polish item.
Which device permissions are justified?
Ask for camera, location, contacts, photos, microphone, or notifications only when the immediate user value is clear. Explain the reason before the operating-system prompt appears.
What happens outside the app?
Email, deep links, push notifications, payment confirmation, account recovery, and support all cross the app boundary. Test those loops on real devices and with the app closed.
Who operates the product?
Someone must review users, correct content, understand failures, and respond to support. Define the admin surface and the evidence operators need before launch.
How will the release be owned?
Developer accounts, signing, provider credentials, store assets, privacy disclosures, monitoring, and source repositories should belong to the business and remain documented.
Worked example: a field inspection
Suppose a technician photographs equipment in a basement with unreliable reception. A useful first version stores the inspection locally, labels it “waiting to sync,” and retries when connectivity returns. It must distinguish a saved draft from an uploaded inspection. The camera permission request belongs at the first photo action, with a route to continue or retry when permission is denied. This is an illustrative design exercise, not a shipped client claim.
Turn the questions into a device check
Run the whole inspection on a real phone: start offline, deny camera permission, grant it later, close the app during upload, then reopen on another connection. Check whether the same inspection survives and whether the operator receives it once. Write the expected state for each interruption before implementation. That small exercise makes “works offline” a clear product promise.