“There are some folks that I’ve interviewed who are working on a side project… nights and weekends. That showed that this is a person with passion. That stuff is really compelling to me. I would hire off of that versus a resume any day.” — Aaron Walter, Inside Intercom Podcast

Most people I meet in tech seem to have a “big app idea” in their head. They’ll use it as a conversation piece over lunch, or occasionally pull it out to prove their entrepreneurial spirit.

“Yeah,” they’ll say, “so I’ve got this idea for an app that keeps my kids quiet at the supermarket, and helps doctors give bad news to their patients. It would feature a geolocating chat function that could leverage satellite relays, and possibly discover alien life. If only I had time…”

I haven’t made an app yet, but I like to make websites. By building and maintaining my own side project, UX Tools, I’ve learned things about building products that are hard to learn otherwise. Complete freedom to create is both liberating and paralyzing.

The freedom of building my own product has taught me that success comes through research, focus, and relationships. And guess what? These three principles are a lot like planting a tree.

Plant Where The Sun Shines Most

The app idea I described above is the equivalent of planting a tree in your living room. Why not plant a tree in your living room? It’s where you spend most of your time, where you’ll see it the most, and it’s not too far away. You’ll be the only one who sees it, however, and it won’t take long before it withers and dies.

The success of your new tree depends on your own research. Find the side of your house that offers the most sun year round. Know which trees grow best in the climate where you live. Determine whether you want fruit or shade from your tree, and learn which trees do that thing best. Researching upfront will give your tree its best chance of survival.

Research will also be the best indication of the tree’s health. It’s okay if the tree doesn’t bear fruit for the first three years because you knew that tree was a late bloomer. You know just how much to water it and just how long the supports will be needed to keep it standing up straight.

My side project UX Tools originated as a quick reference for prototyping tools in one of my blog posts. The design industry was (and still is) hyped up about all the new tools coming out. I saw discussions in the PDA Slack channel about prototyping tools almost daily. Rather than repetitively describe the difference between InVision and Principle, I created a simple site to compare tools. It’s grown into something more, but continues to meet that basic need. I saw where the sun was shining, and planted my tree there.

Deciding to plant a tree isn’t hard. Planting it, keeping it healthy, and patiently letting it grow over time is hard. Generating app ideas isn’t the hard part, it’s making them work.

Deliver The Most Value in The Least Amount of Time

The hardest thing I’ve learned in product development is to start small. Products only stand to benefit from a strong focus. The research you did when planting your tree will help you know how to ensure healthy growth. That young tree will likely require pruning.

Pruning a tree is very counter intuitive, but it works. By cutting back branches and stems, the tree will actually grow back fuller than before. A hormone in plants causes them to route growth to the main stems of their structure. Trimming these main stems and extra branches causes the plant to reroute that energy to strengthen and extend existing branches. This makes the plant grow outward instead of upward.

Pruning your ideas helps to foster a fuller, healthier product base without wispy, unstable branches. Those smaller branches are still valuable, but you can wait to let them grow once you have a stable base.

By cutting your idea back, you deliver value faster. The Agile manifesto is about delivering “working software over comprehensive documentation.” To me, this means a simple, working app is better than a complicated idea. The Agile framework not only keeps development moving, but protects the product by proving its minimum viability (see minimum viable product).

When building out the latest section of my site, UX Library, I turned to the local community for ideas on how to help UX designers find new books to read. We outlined great ideas around designers voting on their favorite books and letting the list sort itself by popular demand. While the idea was strong, it required user authentication for the app to remember which books a designer had favorited. This opened up a world of accounts, user profiles, and backend storage. By side-stepping these dependencies, I created the simple page that exists today. Without having to learn new frameworks and practices, I was able to build the site out in a matter of weeks instead of months.

Pruning this idea delivered immediate value, and I can always continue building towards the more advanced idea. This simple approach to development creates value quickly and drives customer engagement.

Listening to consumer feedback drives the future of the product and help you identify which branches to prune.

Value the Individual

A side project can take a long time to grow, as is the case with any tree. This subtle growth might seem invisible, but it’s there. A growing tree will naturally sprout and scatter seeds. I try not to ignore any individual seed as these have the potential to become entirely new trees.

I never expected my site to generate any income. I’ve been able to leverage certain affiliate programs to make a few bucks here and there, but nothing significant. Instead, I nurtured relationships from speaking invitations and guest blogs. Recently, I’ve even begun to reach out to new subscribers of the UX Tools Newsletter and get to know them better. I’m trying to learn more about how they found my site, what they liked, and how I can continue to improve. I’ve made new friends and followers and carved out a space in the community. These relationships continue to open doors to new opportunities, and are much more valuable to me than my side project will ever be.