Planning with Ease

Since the beginning of the year, we've been planning on a rebuild of Candidio. Tim Loyer has been working away on a REST API, while I'be been patching the current version of Candidio in production. I've also been working on designs and a style guide for the new version and we're almost ready to begin development of the front-end web application.

The problem I was running into, which I think was completely internal, is I didn't really know where to start with the build. We have a really good idea of what the application will look like and function, but sitting down to implement the designs, is a new ballgame. Having the style guide almost finished is a huge help. I think I should be able to hammer out the templates for the main areas of the application fairly quickly, since the guts of the designs are already written in code.

Early this week, I sat down with my notebook and focused entirely on brainstorming and planning, through a basic mindmap, all the general features to make Candidio 3 function at it's barest level. As I move through the build, I would think we'll be adding more and more granular features to our backlog, but we've got a great start.

If I was to learn one thing from this, is that taking a step back and getting something, anything, on paper is useful. The simple act of focusing and brainstorming without self-critiquing should be my step 1.