🔑 The Key to Something That Doesn't Exist 🔑
The first and most important thing when designing a completely new system:
“Study the maximum number of similar systems”
Competitors – products that "take away" your user in the current market
Analogues – products that perform the same function, but are in other markets, so your customers do not intersect
References – systems that may not have any market relation to you, but their mechanics are extremely similar to those that can be used in your project
The most interesting thing here is the references.
Firstly, if you have a completely unique idea and there are no competitors and analogues, references will be the only way to borrow the maximum number of ready-made practices
Secondly, references can be from a completely different sphere and have a completely different target audience, as long as they solve their problems with a similar model to yours
For example, you want to create a "coaching for entrepreneurs" application where they can (1) receive useful news from their field, (2) complete unique homework assignments for them, and (3) receive paid consultations via chat.
If you didn't find "competitors" / "analogues", find several different applications that separately contain the functionality of a "news feed" (vk), "completing homework assignments" (soursera app), and "chat with paid consultations" (sanctuary) and use them as a reference.
And you will learn exactly what and how to look at competitors, analogues, and references in the upcoming course "How to Create an IT Project and Not Fail" 💣 without failing