In theory, starting a new project is exciting. I love the planning process, from the branding part, to creating tasks and starting to tackle those tasks. In reality, it’s overwhelming and if not done properly can be a death sentence to what look like a fun project.

When the week started I decided that now is a good time to start this project I had in web version, and move it to mobile with React Native. I’m calling it “Smilestone” it’s a small app to track my weight loss progress. The problem was, since I already had a working app on the browser, I kept adding things when planning for the new mobile version.

• New features;
• QOL improvements;
• More settings;
• Dark mode;
• You name it.

I quickly became overwhelmed, started to give up and looking for alternatives. While looking for alternatives I thought to myself that I’m a developer and should be able to fix something by myself. This was supposed to be a fun project. So I stopped and thought, what is the minimum I need to have a working product? What is the core functionality? Simply an input to add weight measurements in kilograms, then a list of those logged weights. Et voilá… as simple as that. No overcomplicating, no fuss.

In less then 2 hours I made a prototype, and now it’s really motivating to add stuff. I’ll be adding a line chart next to visually track the progress, and I can’t express how excited I am. I already have the data, because I started small, so building a line chart should be a breeze.

Many of these pet projects fail before they start. One key rule to keep in mind is: start small and build complexity later, in a steady pace.