Planning is a step that's easy to skip, especially if you're flying solo, but taking some time to plan your project properly not only increases your changes of creating a more effective application, it also increases your chances of actually finishing your project, rather than abandoning it halfway through.
Skip this stage at your peril!
When you're in the early stages of planning your app, it's tempting to tell yourself, "This app is such a good idea, everyone will want to use it!"
If you buy into this statement, then your app will be perfect—but only for you. Since it doesn't make much sense to develop an app just for yourself (although, if you happen to like the finished product, then that's an added bonus), the first question you'll need to answer when planning your application is, "Who am I building this thing for?"
Too often we leave identifying our target audience until too late in the planning process, or even worse, we get carried...