We're in the thick of our second weekend trying to bang out an MVP to launch our first startup. It's harder than it seems (already). There are tons of stuff they never taught us in class (proper password resets, for starters) that we've got to learn. Node's modularity has helped immensely, having the ability to drop in a single module in to do a single thing is so useful. I don't know how I developed without it.
Still, we can't slam a bunch of packages and Bootstrap together and call it a day. We're building a quality product and there's still a lot of work to do. Our problem is figuring out what work to do. I'm sure those of you who could rattle off all sorts of nitty-gritty that needs to be done are laughing at us right now [0] but we're new and this is difficult. Give us time.
I have found myself sitting down to get some more coding done and having no idea what I should do next. Yes, we've built a to-do list. We've had several mini-discussions where we determine what the next iteration will look like. And yet, I find myself at a loss of things to do.
This is partially due to my resistance to lean into the pain and work on things I really don't want to do (writing a Terms of Service, repeating code just to add Yet Another Form). I've had some success challenging myself to come up with inventive ways to refactor. Some refactoring leads to security holes, but at least fixing those is interesting and we still end up with better code.
I alluded to our bigger problem earlier: We're first-timers. There's a lot out there that can only be learned by doing. One of those things is what to do. I've found myself going to other sites that have features like ours just so I can see what features they've got. It fills in a lot of holes in my knowledge.
Simply having something to do doesn't completely solve our problem. Once we've got something, we're flooded with different ways to accomplish that task. Most of the time there isn't a general "best practice" for everyone. Instead, we're stuck with the ubiquitous "do what's best for you" mantra that almost never is followed by a discussion of the options and who they're best for.
We are stumbling in the darkness but at least we're stumbling toward something and that gives me hope.
[0] If you are one of those people, could you rattle off that list into a comment for me?
I find that this sort of list often starts with a "user story". Determining what you want the user experience to be like will often clarify which features are most important, and what you should be working on.
ReplyDeleteYou've obviously identified a need in the market, so define that need a little bit more. What is good about current systems? What is bad about current systems? How can you duplicate the good, and fix the bad?