?? Planning Large/Complex Projects: A Quick Guide

1???Ask Questions First: Before diving into coding or sketching, ask key questions. Who is the project for? What are the technical limitations? What does success look like? What are the non-goals?

2???Technical Speccing: Use your product requirements doc to create a technical spec doc. This helps identify design issues, catch missing scope, share knowledge, and achieve consensus.

3???Create a Detailed Project Plan: Focus on features and user stories. Ask what existing technologies can be reused, what new technologies are needed, what APIs are required, and what tech debt needs to be tackled.

4???Develop Systems Design/Code Flow Diagrams: Diagrams help visualize how different parts of the system connect. Tools like Draw.io, Miro.com, Lucid.app, or excalidraw.com can be useful.

5???Organize Around Milestones and Tickets: Break the project into smaller milestones and tasks. This helps make sense of complex problems, develop accurate estimates, gain momentum, and prioritize.

Remember, a technical spec should be a living project plan the entire team can refer to as the source of truth. ??