Pick the irritation

Start with a Tuesday, not a market

The best first tools come from something that annoyed you this week. You already know the problem in detail, you know what a good result looks like, and you are the first user. Market research comes later, if ever.

Open a note and list five small irritations from your work or your life. Copying a table between two apps. Resizing images for a form. Checking whether an email address looks real. Turning a list into a calendar. Pick the one you would use again next week.

Write it in one sentence

“When I [situation], I have to [annoying steps], and I want [result].” If you need two sentences, the problem is two problems. Keep one.

Find three real examples

Not invented ones: the actual file, the actual list, the actual email. You will build against them in step four, and they will catch every assumption you make. If you cannot find three, pick another irritation.

Name who feels it, and the result

Who else has this problem? One person you could send the tool to on Sunday is enough. Then describe the result in their words: “a CSV I can paste into my calendar”, not “data transformation”.

Done when

You have one sentence, three examples saved in a folder, one person in mind, and a result described the way they would describe it. Two hours, at most. If you are still choosing after two hours, take the one with the best examples.