Projects can be large or small. They can be finished in 24 hours or take months even years to complete. Whether you are working on a project for yourself or a client, you need to create a plan. Your plan can be as simple or detailed as you need it to be. A simple coding plan covers things like what I am going to make, tools I need, steps needed to complete project, sketch out your designs, plan your code and schedule time to work on it.

Decide what to make

The best projects fall somewhere between things that you enjoy doing and things that allow you to learn marketable skills. If you are working on a side project or a hobby, you want to make certain that it has these elements. When you work on client projects, you may not get a project that has both. All projects can provide you with the opportunity to learn something.

Coming up with ideas for personal or side projects can be hard. By keeping a project notebook as Amie Chen does, you’ll have plenty of ideas to choose from. You can also ask your friends what problems they are having or try one of these ideas.

Pick the tools you want to use

Whether you are going to use a new framework or sketching tool, you should make sure that you have everything that you’ll need. Need new software? Install it. Photos? Download or purchase them. Make sure you have what you so you can set up your space for working on your project right away.

Plan the steps to complete your project

When you are first starting a project, it is easy to get excited about it and want to start building right away. Don’t. Plan out your project. Use a process called backwards planning. Start with your end goal. Ask yourself what you want to accomplish and write down clear steps and milestones that you need to achieve this goal. It doesn’t have to be perfect, you can revise as needed later.

What about extra things that you didn’t plan for? You may discover that you need a few extra things. if you are using an API, you may need to sign up for a developer key. Add them to your plan as you learn about them so you don’t forget to do it.

Design

Design is more than making it look pretty. It can be helpful to sketch out your designs before building an app. By sketching it out, you can decide what features to include, how people will use it and how it looks.

Plan your code

Start small. Think about the steps that the user needs to do in order to accomplish something. Break your code down into functions. By breaking it down, you make it easier to write your code.

Schedule time to build it

Look at your schedule and plan time to work on this project. You may need to stop doing less important things like watching TV.