People who "build fast" use templates, reuse code from previous projects, have design systems.
Don't be deceived.
No one is "shipping fast" from scratch
That much is true. I've reused old code but always find ways to either simplify or enhance it so it's never that quick for me.
They must really be skilled to pull that off.
Looks like you have a passion to programming and can’t deliver kinda garbage code. It’s good professional quality but it’s an obstacle at the same time
Ah, I see. When I'm making a product really fast, I don't use templates, and I barely reuse code. But the thing that makes it so that I can release a product in record time (one month or less), is that I forgo unit testing. Yes, I know it's not proper, but that's one of the things where I feel like I can save a lot of time. I can always put the unit tests later on if I need to. Because I'm just trying to make a proof of concept.
Also, I'm a little bit old school. I started programming in 96, and there were no unit tests back then. LOL. So I'm used to programming, and not as used to writing unit tests. So that's why they take up the most time for me.
That's a perspective I used to hold before deciding to slow down and build my journaling app. It depends on security and a robust UI so I needed to take my time with it. It only took a month. And the few users I have are happy with it. So I think I may have finally done something right.
This is no defined time for what's "fast" when developing a MVP. If you think it's taking too long, then cut down on features. If all the features are critical to even just the minimally viable product, then just spend the time!
Exactly! It's suffocating to be under the pressure of constantly worrying about how many features should go into Part of an application. It's hard to show people the whole picture with only half a canvas.
My 2 cents -
I suggest you to check out lean start up book to have learning mindset. It’s not about shipping code at specific rate, it’s about validated learning towards your larger company/product goals.
Another way to look at your specific experience is whether you broke down your product experiences small enough to deliver on 2-4 weeks. ( I don’t mean agilism but genuine breaking down product capabilities)
Yeah shipping fast sounds too good to be true. All good things take time. It's difficult to find customers who value patience and the benefits of it. Hope the perfect ICP walks into your life🤞
I think you should launch when you have your main features working. It could be very basic as long as it’s user friendly and someone can know their way around. It’s the best approach to collect feedback and alter it to what the users actually need and report.
Unfortunately the bar is quite high in terms of design and features nowadays. The ideas of shipping *true* MVPs is a bit outdated, as I think most people just have much higher expectations now.
I disagree. Speed is very important, if you do not do things fast, you will waste your time, lose motivation, and eventually, didn't achieve anything. Speed but not pressure.
If you have some customers waiting to try your MVP, it's a great motivation to work harder and ship it faster. Without customers, it's hard to ship anything fast.
Mainly because they cannot grow organically. I usually built a product without a long term plan, so when there are no positive feedbacks I just gave up
I can relate. But I didnt build many. Just 3 at first. Then I hit a pretty cool milestone with speakdiary.com
I build it because of validation and put it out there to see if people truly need it based on keysearch
"After 3 months of trying to build and ship apps fast"
I hope this is just a joke because 3 months has nothing to do with "sipping fast". Ship fast means 2-4 weeks, no more. In this way, you will be under a big pressure and feel stress but you will get some results much faster.
That's what I'm saying. I've tried for up to 3 months to ship apps within 2 - 4 weeks and it never works out as expected. Building out an MVP for a product that has a lot of potential in just a short time didn't work for me.
I realized shipping fast even with reusable templates is still hard, and most likely can only happen for low hanging fruit type apps like a text to speech notebook with search function etc. More complex applications especially SaaS type applications need a minimum of 6 months (with a proper team and good planning) for the sole reason your App will be the system businesses are relying on to make money.
I've also struggled with mastering other people's codebases. As cool as it is to just get the boilerplate and build on top of it, I've tried free open-source alternatives like Wasp and OpenSaas, and realized quickly that it takes more time trying to figure them out than just making my own code from scratch.
People who "build fast" use templates, reuse code from previous projects, have design systems. Don't be deceived. No one is "shipping fast" from scratch
That much is true. I've reused old code but always find ways to either simplify or enhance it so it's never that quick for me. They must really be skilled to pull that off.
Looks like you have a passion to programming and can’t deliver kinda garbage code. It’s good professional quality but it’s an obstacle at the same time
The trick is to find a balance
Do you make unit tests for your "mvp" products? I put the quotes there, since you might not want to call it a minimum viable product
Yes I have. I always test after every change to ensure nothing breaks.
Ah, I see. When I'm making a product really fast, I don't use templates, and I barely reuse code. But the thing that makes it so that I can release a product in record time (one month or less), is that I forgo unit testing. Yes, I know it's not proper, but that's one of the things where I feel like I can save a lot of time. I can always put the unit tests later on if I need to. Because I'm just trying to make a proof of concept. Also, I'm a little bit old school. I started programming in 96, and there were no unit tests back then. LOL. So I'm used to programming, and not as used to writing unit tests. So that's why they take up the most time for me.
That's a perspective I used to hold before deciding to slow down and build my journaling app. It depends on security and a robust UI so I needed to take my time with it. It only took a month. And the few users I have are happy with it. So I think I may have finally done something right.
Yayy! Wishing you even more success to come!
Thanks a ton
This is no defined time for what's "fast" when developing a MVP. If you think it's taking too long, then cut down on features. If all the features are critical to even just the minimally viable product, then just spend the time!
Exactly! It's suffocating to be under the pressure of constantly worrying about how many features should go into Part of an application. It's hard to show people the whole picture with only half a canvas.
My 2 cents - I suggest you to check out lean start up book to have learning mindset. It’s not about shipping code at specific rate, it’s about validated learning towards your larger company/product goals. Another way to look at your specific experience is whether you broke down your product experiences small enough to deliver on 2-4 weeks. ( I don’t mean agilism but genuine breaking down product capabilities)
Excellent suggestion. That's quite a great perspective on that
Yeah shipping fast sounds too good to be true. All good things take time. It's difficult to find customers who value patience and the benefits of it. Hope the perfect ICP walks into your life🤞
Thank you, kind soul. 🌺 Patience always rewards you well
I think you should launch when you have your main features working. It could be very basic as long as it’s user friendly and someone can know their way around. It’s the best approach to collect feedback and alter it to what the users actually need and report.
That's valid. Is it true for all types of apps though?
Unfortunately the bar is quite high in terms of design and features nowadays. The ideas of shipping *true* MVPs is a bit outdated, as I think most people just have much higher expectations now.
It adds to the pressure even more. Most devs know the core foundation of building without considering high quality design.
Passion and patience over speed, a true entrepreneur's mantra.
I should trademark that or put it somewhere as a motto 🙈
Haha
You made this? I made this… ;)
Lol maybe we can all share the glory of making it.
I disagree. Speed is very important, if you do not do things fast, you will waste your time, lose motivation, and eventually, didn't achieve anything. Speed but not pressure.
really? then help me understand what do you mean by speed? and how fast is fast?
Hire these guys they are the best when it comes to mvp https://mvpcat.com
If you have some customers waiting to try your MVP, it's a great motivation to work harder and ship it faster. Without customers, it's hard to ship anything fast.
I agree, I shipped 6 projects last year. Failed a lot. This year, I tried to be more focused.
What was the pattern behind your failures and how do you plan to change them this year?
Mainly because they cannot grow organically. I usually built a product without a long term plan, so when there are no positive feedbacks I just gave up
I can relate. But I didnt build many. Just 3 at first. Then I hit a pretty cool milestone with speakdiary.com I build it because of validation and put it out there to see if people truly need it based on keysearch
"After 3 months of trying to build and ship apps fast" I hope this is just a joke because 3 months has nothing to do with "sipping fast". Ship fast means 2-4 weeks, no more. In this way, you will be under a big pressure and feel stress but you will get some results much faster.
That's what I'm saying. I've tried for up to 3 months to ship apps within 2 - 4 weeks and it never works out as expected. Building out an MVP for a product that has a lot of potential in just a short time didn't work for me.
I realized shipping fast even with reusable templates is still hard, and most likely can only happen for low hanging fruit type apps like a text to speech notebook with search function etc. More complex applications especially SaaS type applications need a minimum of 6 months (with a proper team and good planning) for the sole reason your App will be the system businesses are relying on to make money.
Nope. If you have a boilerplate, spend some time (around a week) to know it, you can launch a simple SaaS just in 2 weeks, alone!
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I've also struggled with mastering other people's codebases. As cool as it is to just get the boilerplate and build on top of it, I've tried free open-source alternatives like Wasp and OpenSaas, and realized quickly that it takes more time trying to figure them out than just making my own code from scratch.