1. The Outlines

If you want to turn your ideas into software, the first step is to get them out into the open, where you can see them.

It’s easy to think you have a mental grasp of everything you need to do throughout the life of a project. But it’s even easier to overlook something, to fail to account for all the ramifications of a feature, or otherwise to not fully think through the details. That’s fine! Software is complicated. Trying to keep an entire development project in your brain is unrealistic—and unnecessary. Instead, you can craft outlines to get the details written down in a reliable, organized way, freeing your brain to focus on one challenge at a time.

Challenges will come. No matter how thoroughly you think through the project ...

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