

Building an App in 30 Days ... Is Stupid [2008] - joedev
http://www.ianlandsman.com/2008/07/17/building-an-app-in-30-days-is-stupid

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blueprint
You may have needed 30-60 days to build an App in the past because development
eats up so much of that time.

You should still start with a real problem, do good planning and market
research, as well as validation of your solution, and that can take time, but
no longer will you need weeks and weeks to implement the App. The company I
run, Blueprint (<https://blueprint.io>), is basically a tool like Illustrator
for people who want to build iPhone apps. Best of all, unlike a bespoke App
which has to have its code opened up and then be republished each time a
change is necessary, Apps you build with Blueprint can be updated with almost
any kind of change while they are still in the wild.

Now, 30 days doesn't consist of 1 - 2 weeks for planning and design and 2-3
weeks of fast coding and testing - it can consist of 3 weeks of design and a
few days of building your App for free. You can even use Blueprint to preview
your App live in your browser and gather feedback from your target audience
before you commit to paying the one-time fee for sharing releases. It's a new
way to approach the process of creating mobile Apps.

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joshaidan
The way I see it though, you may develop and launch an app in 30 days, but
just because you release the app doesn't mean you're done.

Sure you can build an app in 30 days, but if you walk away from it after 30
days hoping it will put money into your bank account, that's just... stupid.

But releasing an app in 30 days is likely smarter in most cases.

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rglover
I disagree that building an app in 30 days is "stupid." For some applications,
a v1 in 30 days is entirely possible/reasonable. You have to consider the app
you want to build and who you're selling it to. Some people are content with
an MVP backed by a solid vision, others need something more substantial.
Nobody's wrong here, it's totally based on the needs of your customers. The
important part is that you understand this and approach it appropriately.

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tejaswiy
This might be true for building businesses, but I've started out trying to
build a fun app in a day because I wasn't happy with anything on the App Store
and it worked out quite well. It took more than a day, but it was a fun
experiment and I got familiar with a few new libraries. I'm going to open
source this and if people find it useful, then awesome!

Here's a post I did on it if anyone cares -

[http://www.tejaswi-yerukalapudi.com/post/12487091818/one-
day...](http://www.tejaswi-yerukalapudi.com/post/12487091818/one-day-app)

~~~
stfu
Looks like a great project. Just curious: How did it resonate so far in
regards of downloads?

~~~
tejaswiy
Honestly, I just published it to the App Store yesterday after procrastinating
for a while. So lets see :)

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markshead
When was the last time someone's software project failed because they created
a usable version too quickly?

Thinking that you can spend 30 days and then never touch your code again is
stupid. However, setting a time constraint that forces you to make decisions
about what to leave out in order to get your code to a stable usable state
isn't such a bad thing.

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unoti
it can actually be good to put a deadline on the development. But as this
article wisely points out, you should not expect for your work to be done once
your have a released or release-able product. In many ways, you're just
getting started.

As an aside, I think it's best to not be intimidated by what other people say
they can do in a certain period of time. Different people take different
amounts of time to get things done, based on what tools and techniques they
have in their bag of tricks, and how long they've been working on a given
problem domain. If someone brags that they did some awesome app in 7 days, but
it would take you 20 or 40, just don't worry about it. It's not relevant for
most discussions, and it's easy to get distracted by such things when
evaluating ideas or products.

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xtrimsky_
I build 2 apps, both in less than 5 hours. Brings me about 50$ per month. Its
barely worth the 10 hours buts it was fun.

~~~
jack83
What are those apps ?

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billpatrianakos
Finally, somebody said it! A 30 day app is a hobby. The chances of success are
like winning the lottery. It is ideas like this that give people very
unrealistic expectations. In my experience there are 2 main types of people
who are hurt by the "30 day app" idea and others like it.

The first is the Instant Millionaire type. They think they just thought of the
next Facebook now all they need is someone who knows how to use a text editor
to build it! So they get it done by an outsourced company in India or they
hire their nephew who "is good at computers" or they hire the local "web
developer" in town that just finished reading "HTML for Dummies" and charges
$100 for a website that looks like it was converted to HTML from a Word
document. Inevitably the idea turns out to be crap, it fails, and it ends up
being someone else's fault somehow.

Then there are the legit hackers who are super passionate, have a great idea,
and have the skills to execute. They see all the stories of the quick hack app
that seems to be blowing up online and they feel like the only way to compete
is to keep up with the guys who are doing this stuff. But the reality is that
if you really want to make a business out of your idea there's a lot more to
it than just building version 1 and sending the link to your friends. It's sad
because these people fail and get down on themselves never realizing that they
had unrealistic expectations to begin with.

These stories of the 30 day app and others like it are the exception. They're
so rare that when they do happen it gets massive amounts of attention. But
those stories are the exceptions with the rule being that even well planned
businesses default to failure. I site around HN and read stories of all these
incredibly talented people doing stuff that's incredible and it makes me feel
like I suck unless I keep up. It promotes the idea that success is quick and
dirty. I hope everyone remembers that all the trends and fads in business are
either bullshit or you really need to adapt them to fit your situation and
have realistic expectations from the beginning.

~~~
mapgrep
Is it better for your "Instant Millionaire" to spend

a. 30 days or

b. 2+ months

...learning that his idea "turns out to be crap?"

It is better for the "legit hacker" to spend

a. 30 days or

b. 2+ months

...to learn that "there's a lot more to it than just building version 1?"

You seem to think that failure is an unexpected outcome of rapid development.
In fact it is a key GOAL of rapid development.

~~~
spobo
The goal is to quickly test what works and what doesn't. Not to fail. And
actually, it is to test the assumptions you have about your potential
customers.

Sadly, you can't scale something you wrote in a couple of days. And the
feature set will be just the basics, if that.

For creating a product where you can actually start making a living you need
to invest a little more time. But it's nice to know ahead that you are
actually running with an idea that works.

I also think the fad of "look what I wrote this morning!!" is absolutely
ridiculous. But it is a good way to get some quick visitors to verify your new
idea.

