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Unit 1 of 7

Open

Day 1 — Your scope is set

What you have afterwards: One core loop, one release goal and written non-goals.

Goal

You decide what your app does in its first release — and what it explicitly does not.

Understand briefly

“Done in seven days” can mean four different things: a clickable prototype, an installable device build, an internal test channel or a public store version. These are not the same, and review, test phases and account checks are not in your hands. Your first release therefore needs exactly one short chain: open → complete one task → understand the result → continue meaningfully. Anything that does not improve that chain is a non-goal.

Follow along

Paste this prompt into the AI tool you work with:

I am building a small app. My idea in two sentences: [YOUR IDEA]

Help me shrink the scope instead of growing it:
1. Express my core loop as a chain of four steps (open → complete one task → understand the result → continue).
2. Name five features I should cut from the first version and justify each in one sentence.
3. Turn that into a short spec with the sections target user, core problem, core loop, non-goals and acceptance criteria.

Ask me questions before assuming anything.

Build it yourself

Finish the spec yourself: target user, core problem, core loop in four steps, at least five non-goals and your actual release goal — prototype, device build, internal test or public version.

Verify

Only tick a box once you have really checked it. These criteria are the only way to finish this unit.

0 of 4 confirmed

Still open: 4 criteria

Self-check

Three questions about decisions you made today. There are no points and no grade — only the why. Every answer can be changed.

1. You tell someone your app will be "done in seven days". What does that actually mean for your app?
2. An idea occurs to you while building. How do you recognise it as a non-goal?
3. Someone asks when the app will be publicly available. What do you say?

0 of 3 answered

Next step

Tomorrow you get this scope running for the first time.

Next: Day 2 — A real build runs