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Ask HN: First time starting a greenfield project at work. Seeking advice
2 points by yarinr on June 12, 2018 | hide | past | favorite | 3 comments
TLDR: In a few days I'll be starting a new full stack team that will develop a large scale DSS web app. This is the first time I'll be starting a greenfield project from scratch, so I'm looking for any advice I can get, on all fronts!

In a few day I'm about to catalyze a new greenfield project at work, together with one other colleague (we'll be starting a new fullstack team, to which more developers will join in the near future. The team will work on this project full time).

We will be creating a web based Decision Support System that will mechanize a process currently done manually by domain experts (they basically look at a printed map with some interest points, and make decisions based on certain constraints and priorities).

To my understanding, there's currently a pretty basic specification and UX designs. From the technical aspect, almost no decision were made, so it's mostly up to me and other developer catalyzing the project. (Our company using mostly Angular, so we'll probably use it as the frontend framework - but it's up to debate just like anything else).

We are expected to start some-sort of development in a few days. Our team will build the core app, while a dedicated team will work on a basic algorithm to support decisions. We will also interact with multiple services & data sources within the company.

I would love to hear your thoughts about the aspects of starting a greenfield project from scratch, including but not limited to technical and interpersonal aspects (technical considerations, choosing a stack, development process, interactions with product owners, future users, teammates and other teams within the company, team culture, bootstrapping, etc..)

I'm looking for any piece of wisdom I can get, and would love to hear ANYTHING you have to share on the subject. Not just advice, but also your own experiences or anything else you think might be insightful or worth sharing. Will greatly appreciate any input.




As a UX designer and project manager, I've spear headed several projects like this.

First thought... just about every consideration, question, risk, etc, can be valuable and belongs to a specific domain or stage. I've benefited from creating these category/stage buckets and adding to then progressively. Things will get overlooked, this helps increase observable surface area.

Sophia Voychehovski's OOUX was helpful early on in expanding my mapping toolset.

I'm going to check out Getting Real right now.


read "Getting Real" by 37signals

start with an agreed upon information architecture, minimal feature set, and wireframes

get a working prototype

add tests and linting

use Vue.js, it's like Angular but much faster to develop in


Thanks! will look into "Getting Real", looks like it discuss my exact situation.




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