How I start projects today

Coding and software engineering are very different things. This is something I learnt by trial and error. In a world where you get new ideas by the second driving things to completion is all that matters.

During my initial years my first step was to dive right in and make projects. But sooner or later I ended up in a mess. So here is how I take things forward now-a-days.

Write! Write! and Write somemore till there is nothing left to write out.

Yes. My first step is to write everything down. Right from the tech stacks used to the requirements, to the research etc.

My goto tool is JIRA. Specifically their product called Confluence. One can use any note taking app but I somehow like the look and feel of this tool.

1. I start by documenting what I plan on building and what problem I am trying to solve.
2. That is followed by the requirements in details.
3. The list of functionalities it should have as a product.
4. Then comes the tech stack I am selecting to acheive the solution.
5. Then starts the good part. I start making a database or more specifically identify the entities and create the data model - nothing but simple Objects.
6. I also make sure I add any comments next to each data model. The models are made in a way that the enum values are also mentioned clearly. Basically just looking at your models, one should be able to create the database completely. Still figuring out how to let the reader know about indexes - simple and composite ones.
7. Then comes the endpoints the application will have. Basically the system is considered as a blackbox and I prepare the interface for it.
8. And then the work starts by breaking the entire project into Epics -> Stories -> Tasks on JIRA.

I will keep editing this as I wanted to stick to my goal of writing a blog a day.

In the next edit I will add a sample document I have created on Confluence and how I break down my tasks.

Post that I will also post my updates regarding a task manager app am working because my current app - MS Todo is giving me a hard time.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned!