You have all created a list of features you think your to-do tracking app should have. The features will probably range widely. Some will seem unnecessary, and others won't be feasible for a web application or for the skills you'll learn over the four-day session.
To get an understanding of how other apps break down their major feature set, let’s look at Instagram’s main features.
Here is a feature list of Instagram as it exists today.
- View photo feed
- Post photos
- Follow users
- Send dms
- View & post stories
Instagram's initial value to their user was the user being able to post their photos in a beautiful and simple interface. Instagram made almost any picture look good. Instagram didn't introduce all of these features at the same time, they had to lay them out and prioritize one at a time. To better visualize our features we lay them out in what we call a country map.
LINK TO INSTAGRAM COUNTRY MAP HERE
The country map allows us to look at all of the features of an app together, at an equal level. It gives us a way to wrap our heads around the features we want to eventually implement, and then focus in on the feature we need to build first. When you begin building your solution, you’re going to have a whole country of features you want to offer your customers. But you have to start with the feature that delivers the most value to the customer based on the problem you’re trying to solve for them.
Back in the beginning, Instagram had one purpose; they wanted people to have a place to post the photos they loved in a beautiful and simple way. They wanted you to be able to make all of your photos look great. With that as the goal, which feature do you think was the most important to build first?
LINK TO INSTAGRAM PRIORITY COUNTRY MAP HERE
Here we have the same country map, with the features numbered in order of priority.
Facebook bought Instagram for $1 billion dollars. Not just for the features. The developers at Facebook could have easily built all the features we just went through. And you will be able to after this program. Understanding how people are going to use the features and the problems they're going to solve for themselves will enable you to build a business out of your solution.
Now let's go through the same process for our to-do list app.