Your Brilliant Idea Might Actually Suck

Hello wonderful person 👋🏾,

Allow me to attempt describing you and/or most of us developers and entrepreneurs, and a little bit about our journey in few sentences.

I'd bet you've dabbled some few technologies and experimented with various ideas in the past, It's 50/50 chance you have an unfinished project somewhere - if you're a developer - that you used to be very passionate about in the beginning.

What happened? Why is it unfinished? Laziness? lack of resources? You realised the idea won't work? Well I too fit the description above, and even tho sometimes I'm just lazy to finish up what I started, most times it's not that (If I'm motivated by the idea it's hard to be lazy), and it's not lack of resources.

I've just learned - the hard way - that while ideas can change the world, not all ideas should be pursued for some very strong reasons, which I usually miss due to the temporary excitement that comes with ideas.

Misled by Excitement

The excitement of a new idea can be overwhelming. We rush to start building, neglecting to consider some important factors like the time and resources required. We crack open our editor and start coding, only to find ourselves, weeks or even months later, questioning the entire concept.

By this point, we've invested significant effort and resources, and then we start to face some issues like lack of clear user demand, lack of resources, and most times we're just duplicating some product out there that already solves the problem efficiently.

Sometimes we persist on building because we don't want our efforts to be wasted, even when we ourselves no longer believe in the idea. It's crucial to understand that while experimentation is essential, it's equally important to validate our ideas before throwing in our valuable resources into development.

I understand that not all ideas may need validation before we go on to develop it (e.g when you have a way to reverse a binary tree with O(1) time complexity 😂), and I understand that sometimes you just need a proof of concept as soon as you have an idea like when you forget your flash drive at home and have an idea for a program to store your files in the cloud so it can be accesses from all your devices so you don't carry around your flash drive (looking 👀 at you Drew at DropBox. I'm just saying, before you go all in on something you expect to put in front of a lot of users, do some work on validating it.

The Shift in Approach

My initial process for bringing ideas to life was straightforward:
Idea -> Design -> Code

This is a mantra for many, and it was for me. I'd rush from an idea to making sketches and UI designs, then start dabbing keys right away. This approach, however, often led to unfinished projects and abandoned Figma designs because I'd realise midway into design or development that the ideas or the way I thought about them were really flawed. Sometimes I'd realise there's no clear user demand, or the cost of development or maintenance would be too much to start with.

Recognizing this flaw, I adjusted my approach to:
Idea -> Validation -> Design -> Code

Before doing anything design or development, I ensure that I validate the idea thoroughly. This validation step saves me some very valuable resources like time and efforts, helps me think more deeply about the concept and idea, highlights potential errors, and sometimes even unlocks new ideas. The confidence gained from this process alone is invaluable, and also you get to know to some great extent, how likely success is, for your product.

My New Approach

Here's a detailed look at the steps I follow to validate and plan the execution of my ideas. This is not the best approach and you may need to modify or build on it. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach, it's just something I spent time and efforts coming up with, and has really been working for me.

Here are the steps:

1. Ideation

This is the magical moment when you come up with your billion-dollar idea that will change the world. You're in your zen mode, you know exactly the problems your idea would solve, you're very clear on the steps you need to take in bringing your idea to life, you seem to know how everything will work out, the features you'll be adding, and sometimes you even know the features you'd add later in the future.

For me at this point, I let my thoughts run wild without limitations, I don't try to think of what's possible and what's not. I jot down everything, make sketches, and document as much as possible. I don't worry about feasibility at this stage; I just focus on capturing the essence of the idea.

2. Market Research

Now that you have your rough notes and maybe some sketches, try and answer these critical questions:

• Who would need your product? Who is your target audience?
• What is their demographic?
• Has anyone built something similar? Who is that?
• What are their offerings and features?
• Do you have unique features to offer or can you improve on existing ones?
• What will be your revenue model? How can you make money?

These are just some questions to get you thinking. Conduct thorough research to learn as much as you can about your target customers, competitors, and market trends. This step is crucial for refining or validating your value proposition and figuring out how to penetrate the market.

3. Value Proposition

The insights gained from ideation and market research should help you craft a concise value proposition. This statement should clearly articulate how your product uniquely offers value to its target users. It summarises why a customer would choose your product or service.

For me at this point, if I still feel motivated about the idea and believe it offers something unique or different, I proceed. If not, it's usually a sign to stop.

4. Business Model

With a solid value proposition, create a business model that outlines key details such as revenue streams, key activities, resources, cost structure, customer segments, and partnerships. Use a business model canvas template to ensure all necessary aspects are covered.

5. Product Features

List all the features you want your project to have. Prioritise features based on your value proposition and critical users' needs. If using a freemium model for instance, distinguish between free and paid features. Also very importantly, identify the features that will be part of your MVP.

6. UI/UX Design

Now it's time to translate your ideas into sketches and wireframes, and then a polished UI design. Normalize not building a project without a UI design, it's unnecessarily stressful (imagine trying to come up with a good colour for your header, and also the perfect flow for onboarding users). This step helps you visualise the end product and identify any design-related issues early on.

7. Product Roadmap

Create a timeline for completing the project features you mapped out for you MVP and/or the complete product, setting milestones for each major accomplishment along with deadlines. This roadmap will guide your development process and keep you on track. It mustn't be perfect and you also have templates and tools out there to help you. I use (ClickUp)[http://clickup.com] for this, but you can use anything that works. The goal is to have a timeline that'd guide you and keep you in check.

8. Development

Now you have most things in check. You know what you're building, who you're building for, what problems you're trying to solve, how long it'll take you to come up with a solution, what the solution would look like, how it'll generate you revenue, etc.

You're essentially ready to run a business. Now it's time to go into development and its life cycle. It's time for birthing. It's time to change the world.

Conclusion

By integrating validation into my process, I've been able to save time, focus my efforts, and build with confidence. While this approach may not be a one-size-fits-all solution, it has worked well for me and can be adapted to fit different needs. I encourage you to refine and build upon this process to suit your unique journey.

Remember, validating your ideas is not just about preventing wasted effort; it's about ensuring that the solutions you build are impactful and truly solve the problems they are meant to address.

Thanks for reading, happy coding. ✌🏾

Image credit: https://images.app.goo.gl/smNDbijbRjZt6m5u7