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How many of you just dive right in and start building?

over 6 years ago from , Chief Head MakersCabin.com

One of the benefits of working for myself is that when I have an idea I can just design and build it. I've always loved doing things this way as it allows me to do rapid iterations.

I've tried the white boarding, sketching, and mockup approaches and it just doesn't work out for me. I get too antsy and just want to play around with something that's live.

Am I the only crazy one that does this? I know when you work for someone you need to do your best to plan things out with the appropriate stakeholders but do you follow the same process on your personal projects?

6 comments

  • Ken Em, over 6 years ago

    My workflow on personal projects consists of sketching on paper, then going straight to coding, designing as I go. Sometimes I will even skip the sketching.

    2 points
    • Paul ScrivensPaul Scrivens, over 6 years ago

      Good to know I'm not alone in this. It just seems so much easier to dive right in and make changes as you go along. Of course for all I know I'm only working at 10% capacity but I've programmed my brain to work like this over the years.

      1 point
  • Alexander CollinAlexander Collin, over 6 years ago

    When working on personal projects I definitely believe THE process is the process that feels right at the time. If you're doing something for fun and feel energy, ideas and the lust flowing it would be kind of sad stopping it for formalia and processes that aren't really needed when you're the only stakeholder.

    I find it super liberating to be able to switch processes when working on client-projects and personal, never being stuck in a A>Z or 9>5 pattern.

    Sometimes I get an idea and dive right in to execution. Sometimes I write and write and write and sometimes sketch and iterate in infinity. Whatever makes the most sense and gives me the the most 'pleasure' at the time.

    Cherish freedom.

    0 points
  • Tammy Le, over 6 years ago

    I also do this! I find it liberating to be able to jump right into code and see my designs come to life. Sometimes my designs don't work out because I'm limited by my coding knowledge and then run into road blocks, other times I stumble upon designs that I would never have even considered if I was just doing a mock up. So it can go both ways for me.

    0 points
    • Paul ScrivensPaul Scrivens, over 6 years ago

      Yes! I find that I can go through a couple of iterations and finally land on the design that I like while having a working prototype underneath. It's weird (to me) creating a mockup of a design, implementing it as a prototype, not liking it, and then going back to the mockup.

      I need to click around on a design to active problem solve.

      0 points
  • Marcel van Werkhoven, over 6 years ago

    Yeah, I'm also more like a rapid prototyping kind of designer/developer. One of my favorite things is tinkering with advanced animations with Greensock. That sort of thing is hard to plan out so I can get away with it in client work too :)

    0 points