Start With a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Version of Your App

You've probably heard or read this advice before, but it pays to create a minimal or "skeleton" version of your app and use that for initial testing. There's a strong temptation when you start building your app to include every feature you can think of before you release it to beta testers. Why create just a bare bones version? There are several reasons, but the primary reason is so you don't have to rebuild half of your app when you start getting feedback about changes and improvements.

Years ago when "shareware" was a big thing, I wrote a do-it-yourself desktop database program. The program sold a lot of copies and a major PC magazine even featured it in an article about database management software. The problem was that I included every feature I could dream up before I released it, to try and make it the most versatile database software on the shareware market. As more people started using it I began to get all kinds of suggestions about things I should have done differently or functions that would be great to add to the program.

The first few changes I made were fairly small, but some of the suggestions people were making on my forum required major re-working of the program code. I ignored some of the "...wouldn't it be great if..." ideas, but there were other changes and additions that really needed to be included. I managed to make the modifications, but it became harder with each new feature I added since the program began to resemble a tire that had been patched too many times. The code got more and more interwoven and testing each new version became almost a full-time process.

With no-code you don't have to worry about "spaghetti code", but you can still end up with a program that doesn't flow well and requires major re-working each time you make a change if you start off with what you believe is a "finished" product. Inevitably, there are going to be some changes and additions needed once other people start using the app. It's much easier to create a clean, well-organized, easy-to-use application if you get feedback from actual users before you try building out the final product.