Started building your app with AI? That’s a good start.

Started building your app with AI? That’s a good start.

You opened Lovable, Bolt, Claude or another AI tool to give your idea a shape. You built screens, tried buttons and changed the flow a few times. If you show us that first application, our response is straightforward: show us what you have in mind.

You bring your knowledge of the business and your first ideas. We bring our development experience. Your prototype gives us something to look at, try and develop together. You do not need to perfect it before starting that conversation.

A screen gives us something specific to discuss

“I want a better way to track requests” can mean many things. Your prototype shows a list, a status, a detail page and a follow-up button. We can ask you to walk through it: which request do you open first? What do you need to know before replying? What should happen after the follow-up?

We are not grading your work. We are learning what you want to make easier. Even a screen you later decide to replace can tell us something important about how you work.

The discussion about developers’ roles in the age of AI touches on this too. The description of the interview When AI writes the code, what is left for developers? presents Les Fabricants’ approach: understand the business, explore needs and test assumptions. The point we take from it is the space for conversation, rather than simply working through a queue of tasks.

“Why this field?” is an invitation to explain your work

Consider an illustrative example: you have built an app for managing service visits. Each request has an “urgency” field before the preferred date. We ask why. You explain that some requests need attention before the customer’s availability is known.

That detail changes how we understand the flow. We can suggest bringing the information needed for triage into the request list, then check with you whether it fits the way your team works. The field has made a business rule you already know visible to us.

Our questions explore that intention: why this sequence of screens? Who uses this status? When does this rule change? Your answer might confirm the original choice or give us a reason to try a different version. Either way, you are part of the decision.

Try an alternative together, then choose

In the same example, imagine two ways into the app: a chronological list and a list grouped by urgency. We can try both with a specific situation: a new request arrives while the team is planning its visits. Which view helps them decide what needs attention now?

You describe what feels natural. We adjust the display, the interaction or the rule, then try again. You show us what helps you triage requests; we change the list with you so that the app reflects that choice.

If you want to keep track of those choices as we go, our guide to turning an AI prototype into a shared V1 brief offers a way to collect them. You do not need to bring a finished document. We can build it from your walkthrough.

Develop the next version without losing your intention

Does a flow work the way you want? We use it as a reference for the next version. Does part of it need to evolve? Together, we identify what should stay the same for the user and what we can change in the implementation. Strengthening one component or rebuilding another becomes an explained, shared choice, not a judgement on how you started.

Our technical contribution includes connecting screens to business data and tools, then checking the rules we have understood with you. In the service-visit example, a test can use your concrete case: an urgent request should appear in the agreed group. That gives you a way to recognise your intention in the working application.

If this app sits alongside other AI projects in your company, our guide to choosing an SME’s first AI project can help you discuss where it fits among your priorities. For our first conversation, your idea and your current prototype are enough to get started.

Already started? Let’s talk about what comes next.

A link, a few screenshots or a walkthrough of your app: bring what you have. Show us the flow that matters to you and tell us what you would like to do with it. We will start there, with you.

You know your business. We know development. Let’s move forward together. Let’s talk about your prototype.

Sources and references

Charbon & Wafer — interview with Les Fabricants: the episode description discusses developers’ roles, business understanding and testing assumptions. The service-visit example above is illustrative, not a Say Digital client project.