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POWhat is worth spending time upfront when starting a new project
 

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    <h1>Update:</h1> <p>Great answers so far everyone! Each one has been really helpful in getting to the root of the problem and helping to make sure both my partner and I are on the same page. I think a lot of it was that we hadn't talked about our actual intentions with release schedules and general work-flow.</p> <p>In doing this I have come to a number of related questions that I never thought about addressing and might make more posts later on (likely over in <a href="https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/">programmers-stack-exchange</a>)</p> <hr> <h1>Backstory:</h1> <p>I'm working on web-app with a college friend of mine. </p> <p>We are developing our site using MySQL and PHP, and plan on using some jQuery for the front end. We are targeting cellphones and tablet-pc. It will eventually involve a lot of crowd-sourced data. I'd rather not say much about the specific project ideas. (Please comment on this if you think I should give more specifics.)</p> <p>We have a prototype, and have some GUI mock-ups. Our idea both scratches an itch, and seems to be something never attempted before.</p> <h1>Our Issue:</h1> <p>We hope to follow principles from 37signals's book "REWORK". A big part of the book is the idea of getting a product out early. It discusses why we should focus on the core of our product and that we should ignore all the extra stuff. </p> <p>Basically the idea of doing the minimal possible for a sellable product so we can ship and start getting feedback. We both have different views on what this means, and it is pulling us in different directions.</p> <p><strong>I think the book is only talking about minimal features, but he feels it is about code design too.</strong> I think that some things are worth doing now to speed things up but he wants us to rush as fast as we can and skip those issues completely.</p> <p>I want to do some prep work because of the amount of time savings it would lead to later on. Like starting out with OO, Designing a thorough database schema, and spending time setting up stuff like <a href="http://xcss.antpaw.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">xCSS</a>, and breaking down our problem into individual steps.</p> <p>[The way I understood him:] He wants to rush even <em>if it means writing horrible/sloppy code</em> as long as it gets the design out the door. He doesn't want to get stuck spending time on basic code infrastructure or refactoring as we go or DRY principles. He doesn't want to spend the time to decide what needs to get done, he just wants to do it. He thinks that committing small changes to svn is just overhead, for example. </p> <p>I understand that he doesn't want us to get sucked into wasting time making a perfect system, but <em>I think this is going way too far, and isn't what 37signals is advocating.</em></p> <p><strong>It's essentially a tortoise vs hare problem</strong> and I don't know how to explain to him that he will be shooting himself in the foot if he doesn't at least do some simple time saving code design choices, and break the problem down and work on it in small discrete chunks.</p> <p>He is a good developer otherwise, and is capable of doing it well.</p> <h1>My Questions:</h1> <ol> <li><p>How much prep is too much, how little is too little?</p></li> <li><p>What high-payoff things should we be focusing on at the start of our project? </p></li> <li><p>How should we judge what is worth working on, code wise (not features), at this stage of development?</p></li> <li><p>Is it worth spending the time implementing things like xCSS and other systems that would make it easier to write clean code from the start?</p></li> <li><p>How would you explain to him the value of fine-grain tasks and committing small atomic changes.</p></li> <li><p>What things have you done with your code that have lead to a sooner ship time? </p></li> </ol> <h1>Best Answers:</h1> <p>I will accept the answer that changes his/my mind the best. Feel free to answer any question I've listed, and bonus points for examples in our targeted languages. References to other 37signals' work might be helpful.</p>
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    1. COWhile the *sloppy code* part belongs in [php], this question might get more/broader answers on [Programmers SE](http://programmers.stackexchange.com/).
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    2. COoh, I didn't know that one existed. Thanks! (I'd hate to cross post though.)
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    3. COIf you must get an application fast to market, you might consider if your platform is the right one. Could Ruby on Rails get a prototype up and running faster with less planning? It seems well suited to your task.
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