Turning an idea into a concrete tool means accepting the move from theory to practice. For PermaTechnics, that transformation got under way after a maturing period running from the end of 2023 to the middle of 2024. It was during that period that Nicolas laid the theoretical foundations: detailed documents on the features, a target vision of the modules and of the future application. <\/p>\n
The arrival of Donovan and Geoffroy marks the real birth of the application. Lines of code replace Word documents. The team shifts from the conceptual to actual development. <\/p>\n
Progress first follows a business logic: sign-up page, creation of the farm, settings, growing areas, planning, and so on. Step by step, one lesson emerges: some of the modules imagined turn out to be fairly ambitious. <\/p>\n
Planning, for example, is not just about “creating plantings”. It is a form, a database, a calendar view, an assignment interface, and more. Each module has to be broken down into smaller, more digestible features. <\/p>\n
Didrik’s automatic planning algorithm? It exists, and a demonstration even runs in Excel. But the team has to lay the foundations first, before considering elaborate recommendations. <\/p>\n
The summer brings its share of decisive encounters. Experienced market gardeners, near Waterloo and Namur, share their view. Their message is clear: the target vision looks very ambitious. So the product will evolve continuously, offering simple and useful tools first, before growing richer step by step. <\/p>\n
In August, the team runs a first one day “event storming”, entirely devoted to task management. The exercise makes it possible to check, while designing a feature, that everything is clear and complete: which data, which dependencies, which actions are needed to manage tasks inside the application. <\/p>\n
At the end of September, Morgan joins the team. A market gardener by trade, he brings something crucial: knowledge of the field, the critical eye of someone with his hands in the soil. From then on, every feature passes through the filter of his practical experience. <\/p>\n
At the end of October, the application starts to take shape. It is now possible to see how the crops are laid out in space. The development sprints, started back in May, are bearing fruit. <\/p>\n
The initial ambition of a launch in mid November runs into the reality of development. The team makes choices, sometimes difficult, always necessary. The regulatory compliance module? Postponed. User created custom varieties? For later. The sales modules? To be dealt with further down the line. <\/p>\n
Those postponements are also a sign of maturity: a tool that is solid on the essentials beats an unfinished application that tries to do everything. <\/p>\n
18 November marks a turning point: the first market gardeners test the tool. A scripted and supervised trial, but a trial nonetheless. <\/p>\n
The application passes into the hands of the people it was designed for. That first feedback will shape the rest of the project. <\/p>\n
Developing PermaTechnics has been a permanent balancing act between ambition and pragmatism. A lesson in humility in the face of the complexity of a trade that cannot be summed up in lines of code.<\/i> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Coming next: the first feedback from the field and the prioritisation work that follows from it.<\/b> <\/i><\/p>\n