Just wanted to provide a quick insight into what it takes to get a fairly simple feature from proof of concept to the actual product. This is just an informational note, to satisfy your curiosity if you wondered. Let's take the recent example (AI Studio at nostr.build). This assumes mostly solo work and bringing the functional product that is usable by non-tech users.
1) We have a ready-to-use technology (AI text-to-image model). You give it a prompt, and it returns an image. Simple.
2) Create a proof of concept hack: one form and one place to show the result (10 minutes or less). This assumes you have experience developing web apps.
3) We start by documenting requirements, limitations, and costs. Check if all the necessary tech is already in the current product. (1-2 hours, depending on how available the information is and if testing is required to verify it)
4) Imagine the interface and the user flow (8-10 hours to try different approaches and imagining what the user would want or need. How will they interact with the product? Where might they get confused? What would they expect?)
5) Implement the initial prototype of the interface (16-21 hours while still reworking part of the initial plan and finding other limitations, e.g., mobile, desktop, touch, mouse)
6) Create the backend infrastructure and adjust the existing code to accommodate new requirements, functionality, and data. (4-6 hours, this involves carefully examining the performance profile and testing along the way.)
7) Test all the assumptions and user flow, while further tuning the code and interface. (8 hours of back and forth to check for all screen sizes, edge cases, and smooth integration, e.g., trying to break it for all imaginable cases)
8) Implement security and safeguards (2-3 hours, involves ensuring that each part of the code is checking parameters, signing of the requests, shared keys, etc.)
9) Testing and updating the cosmetic parts, integrating into the rest of the site (4-6 hours, mainly consumed by testing and adjustment of visuals)
10) Pre-release (10 minutes, commit and deploy)
11) Post-release fixes and adjustments, while collecting user feedback (4-6 hours)
12) Start work on the next update for the same feature until the initial vision is achieved.
I hope it was at least informative and YMMV 🐶🐾🫡
