While it has been a productive couple of months, building a new application from scratch is a lot of work! I’ve never built a CRM before, so I’m still learning about the important features and letting the application guide me in understanding what it needs. I know that might sound weird, but for example, I’m working on the Profiles section right now. I have a ROLE of INSTRUCTOR that can be assigned to internal users, I have also built the Events and Scheduling sections, but now I need to assign the Events to the Instructor. So, I’m working through the flow of how to get that done. There’s the “just get it to work” from a programming perspective, but then there’s also making sure it “works for the user” perspective. That’s what I mean by allowing the application to tell me what it needs.

One of the games I play is an Early Access game, and they just released an update along with an updated roadmap for the game. This inspired me to formally write down a roadmap for KickConnect. I had a loose set of requirements, but as the application grows in its foundation, I’m starting to realize that I can add more features much quicker now! Below is the roadmap I’m working towards. Some of these features I don’t know what they will look like yet, but they serve as placeholders for me. Some of these features will evolve into other features.

JOB UPDATE As many of you know, I found a new job! This is great news for me personally and financially. It’s a significant job (1 month in so far), but it also requires a lot of my time. I’ve been pleased with my progress in working on KickConnect during weekends and some evenings. I don’t feel like I’m burning the candle at both ends yet. If I weren’t as far along with the foundational items, I could see putting it on the back burner or having progress come a lot slower. Since I’m past the initial setup phase, I feel like progress will continue at a nice pace. Plus I’m enjoying working on it. It’s fun building something from scratch!

Roadmap for KickConnect v1

  • Build Accounts
  • Build Users for Accounts
  • Build Profiles for Instructors
  • Build Locations
  • Build Events/Classes
  • Build Scheduler (ability to schedule Events/Classes)
  • Build ability to schedule Instructors to Events/Classes
  • Build Member Portal
  • Build Membership documentation
  • Build documentation storage
  • Build Membership communication
  • Build Public Website Templates
    • Customization of Templates
  • Build E-Commerce Private
  • Build E-Commerce Public
  • Build E-Commerce Sales tracking
  • Build Membership Events tracking
  • Importing existing data
  • Phone Apps
  • Social Media integration

TODO List

  • Ability to Copy Events from Day to Day (QOL)
  • Ability to Resent Password Reset (QOL)
  • Ability to turn on and off components for users -Member Portal
  • AWS Technology Addition/conversion:
    • Lambdas
    • API Gateway
    • Containers
    • Deployments/Terraform(?)

FOUNDATIONAL ITEMS: Status COMPLETED (but evolving)

  • Created DB
    • Created Seed Scripts
    • Created SPROCS
  • Created API
    • Tested CRUD API
  • Purchased UI
    • Customized UI
  • Implemented Testing
  • Implemented Development Enhancements locally
  • Implemented AWS environment