ASK HN: Help with how to breakdown a project

[ericseidelman]

Let me start with - I am not a tech person at all.

I have a start-up web application that I need to build, and I'm looking to outsource the development of an initial prototype.

My question is this... is it better to break down the entire project into small milestones, or is it better to explain the entire project at once and work with the developer to create it all?

My gut tells me, break it down into small milestones that build upon each other. But, not being a tech person I don't know the answer to this next part...

as a developer are you able to work with small pieces of a project without knowing what is coming next? Is it easier to know the big picture so you can plan for what is coming up as you go?

I think of building a house.... I wouldn't want to build a basement and foundation of a house if I didn't know what the floorplan was? I could build a square foundation, but the house could be cirle? Same with this... I could tell a developer to build a registration page, but if he/she doesn't know what that info is for, it is going to work?

Thank you.

[kaiserama]

If you haven't done this already I would take as much time and care mocking up drawings and explaining how your system will work in lay terms. This will be good for 2 reasons, 1) you'll continually refine your concept and 2) it will provide a basis for explaining the system to someone else.

In my experience dealing with clients who come in with an idea, often times that idea isn't fully formulated and we end up making huge architectural changes downstream which are extremely costly. I consider myself at least somewhat business savvy so I can spot potential problems and generally bring them up and get them corrected ahead of time, but if you're dealing with someone who is going to build off spec you probably won't have this safety net.

Like RiderOfGiraffes says, if you don't provide a developer enough vision of the product you'll likely end up with the wrong modules. For instance let's say you're setting out to build a formula 1 car and you send a spec out for a steering wheel without mention of it's purpose. You're probably not going to get what you wanted.

[ericseidelman]

agreed.

I currently have detailed wireframes, a UI design mockup, and a complete overview description. So those should help.

[RiderOfGiraffes]

In my opinion, for what it's worth, you absolutely must either become technical, or must work closely with someone you trust. Trying to break down your project into pieces without knowing how these things work is a great way to get a partially implemented, completely broken, useless pile of non-functional code.

At the very least you need to get tutored on how to break these things down, and tutored by someone with experience.

This question does come up a lot on HN - a search and browse may repay you.

PS: It's generally preferred if you preface the title of a submission like this with "Ask HN:" so we know you're asking a question, rather than pointing to an article that discusses the issue.