How to Build a Web App in 48 Hours!

Do you have an idea for a web app? Looking to get it ramped up with a quickness? Here are some steps that will help you fly through a 48 hour development blitz.

Assemble Your Team

If you can handle design and development, good for you. Move on. If you are an entrepreneur with an idea and no tech skills you are going to need a team. Ideally you want a bad ass developer and a bad ass designer. Yes you can find crossbreeds, but with the time constraint, you will need your team focused on their work. Two heads are always better than one anyway. The technology doesn’t really matter. I suggest you use developers fimilar with open source frameworks like Ruby on Rails, Symfony, or Django. You may also want a sys admin on your team that understands Unix/Linux if your developer can’t handle it. Oh, have your team ready before the 48 hours begins!

Brainstorm

So, you have this killer idea and you want to get something rolling. Start the session with some brainstorming. You can brainstorm solo or with your team depending on their skill set and future involvement. Too many heads in the brainstorming phase can sometimes not be good. Either way, you need to get your idea down on paper. Draw some wireframes simple wireframes and screen flows. Make the largest list of features possible. Spend 2 hours max on brainstorming and get as much down on paper as possible. Set an alert to let you know when you are getting close to the 2 hour limit.

Organize

Figure out the problem your app is solving and focus on it. Put yourself in the shoes of the user and make sure your priorities match what you think the user will need. I guarantee these will change, but you need a base to work from. Take all the screens, notes, and brainstorming stuff from earlier and lay it all out on a table. Some would tell you to take your feature list and chop it in half. You could do that, but why not just list it in order of importance. Remember, what is important to you — may not be important to your user. Focus on the core feature and prioritize the supporting features. Some things that should be on the top of the list .. user registration, templating system, server config, subversion.

Tackle the List

The number 1 rule in building apps fast … don’t build something that has already been built. Once you have your webserver and subversion setup its go time. Things like user registration and templating systems are all over the place in all languages. Pick one an roll with it.

Interface design should begin straight from the get go while the developer/sys admin is setting up the server. Don’t try to design around a template system at first. Build all screens in your favorite text editor and break up the interface later. Your designer really needs to focus on getting all screens designed. Build a SOLID all encompasing stylesheet. Focus on your core layout and use long-naming-conventions so you can easily spot issues later when your eyes are bloodshot and you are apm’d up on red bull.

Code, Code, Code

Code your happy ass off, but don’t forget to take breaks. Hopefully you are using a framework with good plugins. Don’t get stuck in one place for tooooo long. If you run into a hickup, make a note (a real note on paper) and move on. Chances are that later on you will think of a solution.

Sleep

Sleep is overrated. But, everyone needs a little, so take a power nap and get back to work!

24 Hour Review

Where is the project at? Have every team member spend 10 minutes gathering their thoughts. Then, group together and re-prioritize your todo list. Move anything that is crucial to overall functionality to the top of the list. The design should begin to integrate into the back end system right about now.

The 45th Hour

Its time to start testing your app. All design elements should be wrapped up and everyone on the team should be hammering the app.

Launch

Make your last commit to svn, test it, then fix that bug you missed and commit again ;)

Good Luck!

Hopefully you don’t pull all your hair out during the project. Remember, this is the first phase :) Not all web apps can be complete in 48 hours, but you can get off to a great start. Being a coder myself, I work better under pressure and when I have alot of time to focus on one thing. Bringing an app from concept to reality in 48 hours is quite an accomplishment. Hats off to all who participated in the Rails Rumble and anyone in the future that manages to accomplish this, its quite rewarding. Gotta plug our rails rumble app too, so go VOTE FOR READUM!