Start with features, not apps

Quick one: Ever thought we've been designing apps all wrong? Yup, that's right. We're like those people who build the roof before the walls.

Here's the deal: start with a feature, not a layout. Why worry about a top nav or sidebar when you don’t even know what you’re building yet?

Imagine this: building a flight booking app. Do you really need a flashy homepage right off the bat, or just a badass search function that gets the job done? Exactly.

Never forget this multi-billion dollar feature:

Or this one. Can it get any simpler?

So, next project, let’s cut to the chase. Build the feature first, slap on the app design later. Maybe we'll end up with less caffeine-fueled midnight coding sessions. 😅

Cheers to simpler and saner app design!

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Comments

[Bert Grantges]

I would go higher - focus on the outcome you want to achieve for your audience, that will inform what requirements (or features) you actually need.

[Mike Pearson]

I would go higher - focus on the 2nd law of thermodynamics, that will inform what entropy channels (or requirements) are inevitable in the grand scheme of things.

[Alex]

It’s not features that propelled these two examples but offering a solution to problems. For google it can be summarized as finding information you need. For ChatGPT it’s not so obvious since it can solve a whole bunch of problems, but I’d say that the core one is how to interact with an LLM in a simple way (in this case through a chat bot).

[OpenSource]

Agree!! "Features that solve problems", not any feature, like a button or something.

[Tech Tobé]

Ah, so good! I wish I could repost thisss! I truly believe my community could benefit from reading this ⭐

[Smit Shah]

this could be my this week's goal. build a feature first app. :)

[Ashish]

I have tried to his and it has worked everytime as a designer once features are established it's better to Design it with form & functionalities, nice Post:)

[Thabiso Pheko]

I am currently building a lot of YAGNI features

[OpenSource]

Thank you a lot for the reference, by the way. It's here for everyone:

Wikipedia YAGNI

Martin Fowler YAGNI

[OpenSource]

I had to search it:

"You aren't gonna need it" (YAGNI) is a principle which arose from extreme programming (XP) that states a programmer should not add functionality until deemed necessary.

Yeah, resist adding it!!

[OpenSource]

Curious... Is it because someone put them on the sprint? Sometimes it's outside our control indeed... but I hope they'll listen you!

[Offirmo]

I'm also building a lot of YAGNI but

• it's for personal projects
• I accepted that I'll never finish my projects, it's a hobby that's giving me pleasure, that's ok
• hmm YAGNI is the best for relaxing ;)

[pamilerin]

Good perspective..

[Richard Garcia]

Good perspective..

[Abhishek Sachan]

It depends on the approach, if you want to just test your idea you start with a flashy homepage and don't start building features.

[Arbythecoder]

I love the perspective... Designs should be secondary but at least, let the app do the major work you said it will do.✌

[Ricardo Esteves]

Well, valid point!

[Monteiro Steil]

Really good perspective!

[Stephen Amedi Imbira]

This should be a revolution. #startwithfeatures. Haha
Anyway, thanks for this change in perspective. Let me try it out

[Qyrus]

This. So simple, yet so true. Thanks for the reminder, and cheers to a full night's sleep!