Ship Your First Web App · Module 1 · Scope and build
Scope: the one-screen first version
6 min read · lesson 1 of 5
The graveyard of side projects is the feature list. The fix is brutal scoping: version 1 gets ONE screen and ONE job.
The one-sentence scope
'A user does [action] and gets [result].' If your app needs two sentences, it's two apps. Write it at the top of your README and measure every feature idea against it.
The cut list for v1
- No accounts — store data on-device (localStorage) or make it a single-player tool.
- No admin panel — you are the admin; edit the data file.
- No settings page — hardcode the defaults.
- One input, one output — a calculator, a generator, a converter. Polish beats breadth.
Pick a stack you already know over the trending one. The goal in v1 is a shipped URL, not a résumé of technologies.
Practice
Write your one-sentence scope. Then delete every feature that doesn't serve it — including the ones you love.