Feature Planning

You've shipped your first feature. Now you'll build the habit of deciding what's next on purpose – capture your ideas, pick the most valuable one, scope it small, and run it through the same build loop you already know (plan → build → preview → refine → ship).

Why this matters

Planning keeps you focused on value. Great teams constrain scope on purpose so they actually ship. See: Setting the pace and Shape Up (scope and appetite).

1. Capture your ideas

Give yourself one place to collect everything, so good ideas don't get lost.

Create a simple planning doc

Create a planning doc for me in my docs folder with three short sections:

1.Must-Haves – real user requests and obvious gaps

2.Bugs & Ideas – things to fix, quick ideas

3.Fun – nice-to-haves and future inspiration

One line per item (what + why). I'll keep adding to this over time.

Outcome: You have a single planning doc capturing must-haves, bugs, and ideas.

I created a simple planning doc

2. Pick your next feature

Choose what delivers the most value for a realistic amount of effort – high impact, low-to-medium effort wins. Say "no" to distractions for now.

Prioritize and choose what's next

Look at my planning doc and rank the items by Impact (high/med/low) and Effort (low/med/high). Recommend the best 1–2 candidates that:

1.Solve a real user need,

2.Are realistically small, and

3.Fit my product direction (check my concept in the docs folder).

For this next stretch of the course, lean toward a feature that needs to **save and reload data** – that sets up the database lesson coming next. Then ask me to pick one.

Outcome: You've chosen your next feature – ideally one that needs to store data.

I chose my next feature

3. Scope it small and plan it

Define the smallest version that delivers real value, then shape it with Claude in plan mode – exactly like Level 2. Everything else becomes a future extension.

Scope and plan the feature (in plan mode)

We're in plan mode. For the feature I picked, help me scope the smallest version that still delivers value:

- What's in for this first slice, and what's explicitly out (future extensions).

- A simple plan to build it, consistent with my existing app and styling.

Keep it small and concrete. Show me the plan before we build – then I'll run the build loop (build → preview → refine → ship) like before.

Outcome: You have a small, clear scope and a plan, ready to build with the loop you already know.

I scoped my next feature and planned it with Claude