Do we really need to build this feature?

As developers, we like writing code. It's what we do. And often if we're working for someone else, they hand us work to do, and we do it. But it can be useful to sometimes dig a little deeper into a feature request before diving into the code.

Recently, a client asked us to build a bulk import feature to create a bunch of users in their application. We already had a bulk import feature for other data, so they were familiar with the process, and we had a good technical foundation to build on.

But before I wrote a single line of code, I asked a few questions:

• How many users do they plan to import?
• Is it a one-time need, or do they plan on regularly importing users?
• Has anyone else ever asked for this? Would other companies use this too?

After gathering this information, it was clear this was a one-time need for a single company. As a result, we did not build an application feature to allow bulk import of new users.

If you're wondering how we solved it instead, stay tuned!

In the meantime, how would you solve it? Hit reply and let me know.

Here to help,

Joel

P.S. We all get stuck sometimes! Need a quick pairing session with a Laravel expert to get unstuck?