5 ms·

Frontend, Android app and iOS app should be doable by 1 person each. Then one graphic designer and a project manager for all of the 3 frontends.

benj111 4y ago
Well graphics design isn't hard. I'm sure one of the Devs could do that. And I'm sure there are tools to convert an iOS app to/from Android, so one dev can do both. And a website is easy. You could do it with 1 person. But Elon is such a machine, he could keep it running by himself.
- RivieraKid 4y ago
  Well that's what I did, I made both iOS and Android version of an app and some of the design. I mean, a mediocre complexity app doesn't need more than one developer for a "slow improvement mode".
  - benj111 4y ago
    But Twitter needs more than 5 employees. How many bug reports do you think the Twitter site and apps get each day? How many employees do you think it takes just to triage them?
    - RivieraKid 4y ago
      You don't have to read all of the bug reports, just a representative sample to discover issues worth fixing.
      - benj111 4y ago
        How do you get a 'representative' sample? You still have to read them to work out that user X saying they can't log in is the same as user Y saying authentication is failing at A stage, issue is present on B and C platforms version D.E Further the issue of 'site using the wrong font' is not equally as important as 'site is exposing private user data'. And you're likely to get many people reporting the former, and maybe only one reporting the latter, so a sample isn't likely to catch the really important stuff.
egman_ekki 4y ago
How many people would you say it would need for the backend?
neongreen 4y ago
Not sure if you’re joking or not, but that’s exactly how Telegram stems to work. One person per app (ok, for the desktop app it’s three people now).
matwood 4y ago
I'm all about lean teams, but this is a joke.
megax 4y ago
Who is defining and managing the PRDs and the roadmap in this scenario? What about user testing and customer development? By “graphic design”, do you mean User Interface design? If so, who is responsible for the user experience beyond just UI? The point I’m trying to make is that it takes some effort (beyond just the plumbing) to create an experience that folks actually want to use on an ongoing basis
- unionpivo 4y ago
  We are not talking future development, just maintaining status quo. Rode map is just: keep it working, or whatever EM twitted about hour ago :) But I agree it's way to optimistic number. You need at least a few for each platform, just because of bus factor, you also need people to keep in touch with Apple/Google reps etc., making sure bills are paid etc. I imagine it will mostly be just minor tweaks and no major features, you can easily do both mobile targets by cca 10 people, not working crazy hours. There are plenty of successful apps with smaller teams, that make it work.
  - pixl97 4y ago
    >There are plenty of successful apps Eh, tossing the direct comparison to Twitter out here because they seem to have gone too far the other way, this is much like saying "I can make 1,000,000 screws a day, so assembling at least 100 cars a day should be easy".
    - unionpivo 4y ago
      The hard part of twitter is on server side. I am not saying that writing twitter like app is easy, but writing it and keeping it running are two different things. If you are not adding new features, you are just mostly keeping up with Android/Apple platforms, which can be annoying, but not that difficult.
  - RivieraKid 4y ago
    I'm maintaining status quo for an Android/iOS app and it takes perhaps 5% of my work hours. > also need people to keep in touch with Apple/Google reps etc. You certainly don't need people specifically for this task.
donkeyd 4y ago
You're joking, right?
- lightbendover 4y ago
  She or he is just naive. It does not take much distinction to post on HN.
- RivieraKid 4y ago
  I'm serious. Why would you need more than one developer for the Android or iOS app?

benj111 4y ago

Well graphics design isn't hard. I'm sure one of the Devs could do that. And I'm sure there are tools to convert an iOS app to/from Android, so one dev can do both. And a website is easy. You could do it with 1 person. But Elon is such a machine, he could keep it running by himself.

RivieraKid 4y ago
Well that's what I did, I made both iOS and Android version of an app and some of the design. I mean, a mediocre complexity app doesn't need more than one developer for a "slow improvement mode".
- benj111 4y ago
  But Twitter needs more than 5 employees. How many bug reports do you think the Twitter site and apps get each day? How many employees do you think it takes just to triage them?
  - RivieraKid 4y ago
    You don't have to read all of the bug reports, just a representative sample to discover issues worth fixing.
    - benj111 4y ago
      How do you get a 'representative' sample? You still have to read them to work out that user X saying they can't log in is the same as user Y saying authentication is failing at A stage, issue is present on B and C platforms version D.E Further the issue of 'site using the wrong font' is not equally as important as 'site is exposing private user data'. And you're likely to get many people reporting the former, and maybe only one reporting the latter, so a sample isn't likely to catch the really important stuff.

egman_ekki 4y ago

How many people would you say it would need for the backend?

neongreen 4y ago

Not sure if you’re joking or not, but that’s exactly how Telegram stems to work. One person per app (ok, for the desktop app it’s three people now).

matwood 4y ago

I'm all about lean teams, but this is a joke.

megax 4y ago

Who is defining and managing the PRDs and the roadmap in this scenario? What about user testing and customer development? By “graphic design”, do you mean User Interface design? If so, who is responsible for the user experience beyond just UI? The point I’m trying to make is that it takes some effort (beyond just the plumbing) to create an experience that folks actually want to use on an ongoing basis

unionpivo 4y ago
We are not talking future development, just maintaining status quo. Rode map is just: keep it working, or whatever EM twitted about hour ago :) But I agree it's way to optimistic number. You need at least a few for each platform, just because of bus factor, you also need people to keep in touch with Apple/Google reps etc., making sure bills are paid etc. I imagine it will mostly be just minor tweaks and no major features, you can easily do both mobile targets by cca 10 people, not working crazy hours. There are plenty of successful apps with smaller teams, that make it work.
- pixl97 4y ago
  >There are plenty of successful apps Eh, tossing the direct comparison to Twitter out here because they seem to have gone too far the other way, this is much like saying "I can make 1,000,000 screws a day, so assembling at least 100 cars a day should be easy".
  - unionpivo 4y ago
    The hard part of twitter is on server side. I am not saying that writing twitter like app is easy, but writing it and keeping it running are two different things. If you are not adding new features, you are just mostly keeping up with Android/Apple platforms, which can be annoying, but not that difficult.
- RivieraKid 4y ago
  I'm maintaining status quo for an Android/iOS app and it takes perhaps 5% of my work hours. > also need people to keep in touch with Apple/Google reps etc. You certainly don't need people specifically for this task.

donkeyd 4y ago

You're joking, right?

lightbendover 4y ago
She or he is just naive. It does not take much distinction to post on HN.
RivieraKid 4y ago
I'm serious. Why would you need more than one developer for the Android or iOS app?