So you want to build a software product...

John Bauer
Aug 23, 2017 · 2 min read

Maybe it’s a simple landing page. Maybe it’s a giant CMS. Maybe it’s a trading algorithm. It could be business-facing, consumer-facing, a brand new business, or an addition to your current one.

It doesn’t matter right now. You have an idea and you want to build it. The starting point is the same, and many of the processes and roadblocks will be similar from project-to-project.

So, before you sink time and money into your idea, make sure you know what’s coming. Here’s a checklist of things you should understand ahead of time.


  1. What is your value proposition?

Take a look at the competitive landscape of your product. Who are the competitors? What can you do that’s different? A good general format to follow is this:

[PRODUCT NAME] is a(n) [PRODUCT TYPE] for [MARKET SEGMENT] that allows users to [BENEFIT]. Unlike the competition, [PRODUCT NAME] [UNIQUE VALUE].

2. What are the core features of the platform?

You don’t need to be a software engineer to understand which features might be important to your users. Will there be chat? What about maps or payments? Will you rely on third-party data or partnerships?

Now, take all of those ideas and figure out what is absolutely necessary for your product to fit your value proposition. Get rid of everything else, and keep it in the back of your mind. Building good software is an iterative, feedback-driven process. Your goal should be to build something that can scale to your grand idea, but can also adapt to discoveries about your users’ needs and priorities.

3. Know your user structure.

This is something that comes up in early-stage projects, and can cause massive delay. Figure out the types of users you will have and what their privileges are ahead of time.

Will you have members that sign in? What can they do that a guest cannot? How about administrators? Will you need to edit the content of your website regularly? Understanding user types is extremely important for planning, and will serve as the foundation of your software. It can impact scope, time, and cost tremendously.

4. Surrender to the Iron Triangle.

Speaking of cost, time, and scope, those are three major variables that will impact your software quality. Regardless of which approach you take, understand that cutting or adding to any of these three variables will impact the others.

The Iron Triangle

Knowing this model ahead of time will prepare you for conversations with account, project, and product managers.


Checking off these boxes before putting resources into design and development will help you to save time and mitigate risk on a software project. At the same time, you should understand that getting it all right from the start is impossible. The best products are built on feedback, criticism, and adaptation.

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