What the Hey

I have been using ChatGPT to help with my content creation for a while now. As part of doing so I found myself frustrated with using the OpenAI UI, lots of copy and paste, as well as worry about losing data do to load. I decided to build a small piece of software to streamline my system, and build it in public.

Enter Hey G!

After building a very small proof of concept for myself, I created a high level roadmap and have gotten to work. Here is an in-depth explanation for why my roadmap is laid out the way it is.

First, basic API functionality.

For the internal team, that’d be me, this is the minimal viable concept (MVC). Specifically this was the most bare bones combination of API calls and data to prove that I could build the application I wanted.

Then, Initial UI mockups.

Everyone likes to see how things will work. Building out semi-functional mockups with Tailwind allows me to see how the workflows feel. This will influence eventual data structures, without the need to fully incorporate them.

The sooner these get in front of eyeballs, the sooner I can judge interest from the public. If I get only negative feedback I can pivot before investing in the more expensive and time consuming tasks.

Bringing it together by combining the MVC and UI.

Once settled on the look and feel for launch, it is time to combine the original API functionality with the UI, add in edge case handling and data storage, and prep for MVP. This, and the next piece of the roadmap, are the real meat of the application and what will take the most time to complete.

And finally, basic account management.

Easily my least favorite piece of the puzzle. Like any other SaaS I’ll need to know who is who, what has been paid, and link everything together. Quite a bit of this you can get from integrations with services like Stripe and Auth0, but you still need to create some core account functionality.

Maybe a fancy logo?

The logo is, honestly, pretty optional. But I have something in mind and plan on doing this before initial launch. Importantly, I saved this till last, so I don’t waste resources on it before I am sure this will go live.

I have seen too many projects get bogged down worrying about things like the logo and company presentation, meanwhile resources are not devoted enough to actually building the thing in question.

Update the marketing site.

Gotta add that all important pricing information and get the site all polished up. After this it is time for…

Initial launch.

Not much to say here! Hopefully have a well-earned drink, take a day or so, see what customers have to say, then take the ever-growing list of feature ideas and build out the next roadmap!

And if you are interested in Hey G!, go sign up for development updates!