The Aging Process of a Project

In most cases for products, the youth of the product is its prime. With software, The initial product feels like it should be the prime, right? This cannot be farther from the truth. Like wine, a software application improves through aging with additions and adjustments over time. I now know this more than ever.

Preparing for the first intensive coding project at Make School, I was excited to build my first independent program. This project is supposed to be a prototype of a personal idea I had, built in ReactJS, aiming to improve plausibility of making comics/manga as a hobby or career. After finishing, I thought that was it; I had reached the pinnacle of that particular program. After taking a second look in SPD 1.5, (A software product development course), I realized just how basic it was, even by its concept. It was then that I came to the realization that almost nothing is built to be completely perfect from the start.

From here, I made plans for it and am currently in the process of tweaking it. Using alternative Reaction components and other hook methods, I can alter my application to be more optimized for future features. At its current state, future implementations wouldn’t be possible. Even after months of tweaking and major updates, I still don’t anticipate it will reach its peak. However, that’s not such a bad thing. The thrill of software development is the drive to constantly improve your program, to be proud of the current progress, and enjoy the problem solving process.

What I want you to take away from this is to give your ideas and projects time. Let it sit and think about it. When building it, don’t make a project to be a one and done deal, especially if it is something that matters immensely to you.