Describing the project

One of the most important steps in starting a new project is planning it. By planning the project before we begin programming, we can easily identify most (if not all) models that our application will use, key features that we'll need to implement, as well as any areas that may cause us problems while developing our applications. Breaking down the project beforehand also helps us estimate how long it will take to develop each part of our applications as well as the application as a whole. While requirements and expectations for our application will most likely change during its development, identifying the core components of your application will help ensure that the core functionality of our application works as we intend.

For our task management application, there are two main components: tasks and projects. Let's break each of these components down.

Tasks

The first component of our application is tasks. A task is an item that needs to be done by our user and usually consists of a brief, concise title, and a description of what needs to be done to complete that task. Sometimes, a task has a due date or time associated with it that lets us know when the task needs to be completed. Tasks also need to indicate whether they have been completed or not. Finally, a task is usually associated with a group or project that contains similar or related tasks.

Projects

The second component of our application is projects. Projects group related tasks together and usually have a descriptive name associated with them. Projects may also have a due date or time associated with them, which indicates when all tasks in a project need to be completed. We also need to be able to indicate whether or not a project is completed.

Users

By breaking down our project, we've also identified a third component of our application: users. Users in our application will have the ability to create and manage both projects and tasks as well as view the statuses and due dates of any given task. While this component of our application may seem obvious, identifying it early on allows us to better understand the interaction that our users will have with the various components of our application.