My guess is that it would depend on the project. Some projects are simple to conceive of (it will be like facebook, but for cat-lovers!), easy to rough out, but

My guess is that it would depend on the project. Some projects are simple to conceive of (it will be like facebook, but for cat-lovers!), easy to rough out, but more difficult to implement correctly. Other projects may require a lot of up front planning and thinking (which data structure to use? what should it look like?) but then end up being quick to code. I've noticed that when I write programs, the more time I spend planning features and algorithms before I start writing code the less time it takes to actually create. I don't always spend a lot of time planning, though.