Be scrappy - it is not that easy 😬

Be scrappy 🤌

Last week, we shipped a new feature for Stoke Club, "Friendly tips," in one week only. When I released the feature, my hands were shaking.

Some observations I had when building Friendly tips for Stoke Club.

1. Product-wise: useful when you're unsure about the expected impact.

2. Engineering-wise: it is not an easy situation. You clearly need to be willing to cut down the technical scope or find a quick hack when an unexpected thing arises. E.g. Firebase URLs do not play well with React Native audio player libs 😅

3. Design-wise: you must also be ready to accept an unpolished result. E.g. See the harsh transitions between screens in the demo below. It helps to have outstanding relations with your friends at design Nicolas Duc-Dodon 😁

A few things that helped:

1. Set a clear "appetite" = the number of days you allocate to building the feature.

2. Prepare clear user stories = they are your safe-checks. When you are deep into building the feature as fast as possible, they help to not getting sidetracked during the development process. They also help keep communication clear as the sprint runs.

3. Release. That's it. At this point, you will probably feel disappointed about the result, and it is OK. Compare to the baseline, not the ideal state you had in mind.

Interested in the feature itself?
Friendly Tips is a new way for #surfers to collect tips on a new specific spot, on an upcoming surf trip, or a next board purchase specially crafted by their trusted friends only.