Creating a Web Project: Four Questions to Ask Before You Start

History knows a lot of examples when brilliant ideas were conceived in a garage and started in a somewhat chaotic manner. But it also knows just as many examples of equally brilliant ventures failing because of simple mistakes and a general lack of a systematic approach. I suggest you have a look at four basic steps that can get you some decent insurance against chaos. Get yourself and your team through them  — and build your project’s foundation layer by layer. And remember: Amat Victoria Curam, Victory Loves Preparation. 

Question 1: Who Needs Your Project?

Identifying your target audience is a critical step that should never be skipped. Without this, your project is at risk of failure even before it starts. You may ask why defining a target audience is of any matter for a developer. The answer is simple and straightforward. Your audience is the fundamental factor that defines everything else, from technology stack to product features. When you know who is going to use your product and how they will use it, you can optimize it accordingly. 

For instance, if you're building a progressive web app (PWA), the ability to use offline functionality (when there's no internet on the phone) is important, since many users will be using it with an unstable internet connection or even without it. It shouldn't just give you a "white screen": you should at least warn the user that an internet connection is required or give them the option to do something without one. Or, if you know your users’ busiest time slots, you can design a robust system to handle peak traffic without spending too much to make it bulletproof 24/7. All in all, without understanding your audience, you are facing all imaginable risks: from technical setbacks to developing something that sees little demand.

So, how can you understand who your users are? Start by analyzing competitors. Look at their audience, their social media, the blogs, and forums where their products are discussed. Notice which demographics engage most, and read their feedback. There may be unmet needs you can address in your own project, potentially drawing users to what you have to offer.

If your product is truly unique, there are still ways to identify your target audience. For instance, surveys can gauge interest and help you accumulate valuable data across user groups. Create short, focused surveys with questions about people’s needs, interests, and preferences. Post these on social media, send them via email, or use survey platforms like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey. Run test ad campaigns, targeting different user groups to test their interest and draw their attention. This will show you which audience segments respond best to your ideas. You can also create "personas" – user profiles that include age, gender, interests, profession, goals, and challenges. Personas can help you refine messaging and prioritize features for different segments.

Question 2: Why Do THEY Need It and Why Do YOU Need It?

Now that you know your target audience, the next step is determining whether they truly need your project. This actually comes down to a simple question: why would they need it? To explore this, ask yourself, your team, and your probable audience several key questions:

1. What challenges do your potential users face daily and what specific problems does your project address for users?
2. Why aren’t existing solutions meeting their needs? Competitors’ products may be inconvenient, expensive, or complicated. Knowing their weaknesses helps you create a unique value proposition.
3. How exactly is your project going to make users’ lives easier and what user experience do you aim to deliver? For example, it could automate routine tasks, improve customer interactions, or provide access to valuable information.

Understanding the product’s primary tasks enables you to focus on the core functions that matter most to users. If you’re also managing business or marketing tasks, answering these questions can help you devise a strategy that speaks to your audience. In some cases, it may also help you persuade investors or partners of your project’s potential value.

There is also the other side of the goal topic that is equally important for your future project. Besides defining user-oriented goals, you should also ask yourself and your team what the project goals are from your own perspective. In other words, why do you need this project? What are its business goals? Do you plan to keep it small, but beautiful? Or is your ambition to outshine famous unicorns? Is it intended just to generate some income to support yourself and your team, or do you plan to attract additional investments and scale it up? Knowing these objectives is crucial to keep yourself and your team highly committed. It would also help you draft your monetization strategy (if any) and shape your marketing and growth patterns. But most of all, it will give you a roadmap of what is truly important so you can focus on worthy priorities.

Question 3: How Are You Going to Develop the Project?

Sometimes, a project’s success hinges on choosing the right technologies. Stability, scalability, and maintenance of your product — and especially the development costs — all depend on selecting suitable tools. This makes it essential to determine the technologies you are going to employ. Here’s how to filter down your tech stack selection:

Step 1: Define Your Project Goals and Requirements

Before choosing technologies, clarify how the product will be used, the expected number of users, data processing and storage needs, and the devices it is going to support. At this point, certain technologies may already seem more suitable than others.

Step 2: Assess Your Development Team’s Competencies

Choose technologies that align with the team’s expertise. If the team is familiar with specific frameworks or programming languages, leaning toward those can save time and resources. When developers are well-versed in a technology, the likelihood of bugs and delays significantly decreases.

Step 3: Consider Project Timelines

Even if your team is proficient in a particular technology, other options might allow faster, more affordable development. It’s also essential to account for the project’s future growth: popular, well-supported technologies reduce the risk of issues with outdated solutions.

Question 4: Do You Have Everything Prepared?

Web project success relies not only on technology and functionality but also on the team’s effectiveness. So, before beginning development, it’s crucial to ensure all technical and organizational resources are ready and configured. Here is a typical checklist that you should run through before you dive into a development frenzy:

1. Set up a task board and workflows. Create a Kanban or Scrum board, define work stages (e.g., Backlog, In Progress, Code Review, Testing, Done), and assign tasks. Make sure everyone knows their roles and task deadlines.
2. Organize chat channels. Create project channels in a messaging app like Slack to facilitate instant communication.
3. Establish repositories on GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket and set up the basic project structure. Ensure all team members have proper access and understand the branching strategy. Require reviews before merging to minimize errors and maintain code quality. Configure main branches (e.g., ‘main’, ‘develop’, etc.) and add protection policies to prevent direct pushes.
4. Set up Docker images for all project components (frontend, backend, databases, services) and use Docker Compose to streamline local development.
5. Implement CI/CD systems (e.g., Jenkins, GitLab CI/CD, CircleCI). Automate code builds, testing, and deployment. Prepare unit and integration tests to run on every commit. Automate deployments for each development stage.
6. Create a Wiki or an internal knowledge base (e.g., Confluence, GitLab Wiki). Document all project information, architecture, requirements, deployment instructions, and development standards in one location. If possible, automate documentation updates (e.g., generating API documentation with Swagger) to keep your knowledge in line with the development progress.

Love and respect are probably the most important keywords for any human life. When it comes to work, it is crucial to love and respect what you do, care for the people you work with, and also for your users and their needs. But you should also never forget about loving and respecting yourself and your own ideas. Good preparation is ultimately a natural tribute to these emotions. Your project is your brainchild, so it deserves to be planted into a properly arranged environment. And you deserve to see it prosper and live happily ever after.