My Plan Before Coding

Many developers dive straight into git init, but the most critical work happens before the first line of code is written. Today, I’m walking you through my 7-step planning process using a Digital Marketplace backend as our case study. 1️⃣ The Strategy (The "Ask") Before writing code, I define the "Why." Skipping this leads to feature creep and wasted hours. Three Critical Questions: Who is this for? (Target Audience) What exact problem am I solving? (Pain Points) What does success look like? (Definition of Done) Example Case: Digital Marketplace Users: Creators selling ebooks, courses, and digital assets. Problem: Manual payment verification and insecure file delivery. Success: A creator uploads a file, a user pays via local gateways (like Paystack), the product is delivered instantly, and earnings reflect in a dashboard. 2️⃣ Defining the MVP What are the "must-have" features to get from zero to one? Focus on the core loop: [ ] Identity: Authentication with User & Creator roles. [ ] Ma