A useful Open Source project usually starts with a real problem. But a real problem is not the same as a buildable plan. If your goal is broad, such as “make learning easier” or “help people stay safer online,” you can quickly end up with too many features, too many audiences, and no clear first version.
Planning and scoping is where you turn that good intention into something you can actually build. One of the simplest ways to do that is to write down your use cases and your non-goals before you start coding.
At Software for Progress Foundation, we care about Open Source software that benefits all people, especially in areas like education, accessibility, security, and civic or social impact. That kind of software needs more than good code. It needs clear choices about who it serves, what it does first, and what it intentionally leaves out.
Why This Stage Matters
Without scope, every idea feels important. Every feature sounds reasonable. Every edge case looks urgent. That can make a project too large to finish, too confusing for contributors, and too hard for users to understand.
Use cases help you focus on what someone actually needs to do. Non-goals help you protect the project from expanding too fast.
Together, they answer two practical questions:
- What should this project make possible?
- What should this project avoid for now?
This is especially important for public-benefit Open Source projects. When you are trying to help people, it can feel uncomfortable to say “not yet” or “not in scope.” But clear boundaries are part of making the work sustainable. A small tool that works is more helpful than a large promise that never ships.
Step 1: Name the Primary User
Start by choosing one primary user for the first version. This does not mean other people cannot benefit later. It means your early planning needs a clear center.
A primary user is not “everyone” or “schools” or “the public.” Be more specific.
- A volunteer tutor helping adult learners practice reading
- A small nonprofit staff member checking website accessibility issues
- A community organizer managing public meeting notes
- A developer maintaining a basic security checklist for small projects
When you name a primary user, decisions get easier. You can ask, “Would this help that person complete their task?” If not, it may be a future idea instead of a current requirement.
Write this in one sentence:
- This project is for: volunteer tutors who need a simple way to assign and track reading practice for adult learners.
Step 2: Write Three Core Use Cases
A use case describes something the user needs to accomplish. It should be written in plain language, not technical language.
Use this format:
- As a type of user, I want to take an action, so that I can get a useful result.
For example, imagine an Open Source reading practice tool for adult education programs:
- As a tutor, I want to create a short reading assignment, so that a learner can practice between sessions.
- As a learner, I want to open the assignment without creating a complicated account, so that I can start quickly.
- As a tutor, I want to see whether an assignment was completed, so that I know what to review next time.
These use cases are small, but they are powerful. They tell you what the first version needs to support. They also tell you what can wait.
Try to keep your first list to three to five use cases. If you have fifteen, you are probably planning multiple versions at once.
Step 3: Turn Use Cases Into Requirements
Once you have use cases, translate them into basic requirements. Requirements are the pieces your project must include for the use case to work.
For the reading practice example, the use case “a tutor creates a short reading assignment” might become:
- A tutor can enter a title for an assignment.
- A tutor can paste or write reading text.
- The system creates a shareable link for the assignment.
- The assignment can be opened on a phone.
Notice that these requirements are still not overly technical. You do not need to decide every database table or UI component yet. At this stage, you are defining what must be true for the project to solve the problem.
A good requirement is specific enough to guide development, but simple enough that another person can understand it without reading the code.
Step 4: Write Non-Goals Clearly
Non-goals are the features, audiences, or technical choices you are intentionally not handling right now.
They are not failures. They are planning tools.
For the same reading practice tool, non-goals might include:
- No full classroom management system in the first version.
- No payment features.
- No automated reading-level scoring at launch.
- No mobile app until the web version works well on phones.
- No support for every type of learning content yet.
These statements protect your focus. They also help future contributors understand the project’s current shape. If someone opens an issue asking for a full grading system, you can point to the non-goals and say, “That may be useful later, but it is outside the current scope.”
This is not about shutting people down. It is about keeping the first version buildable.
Step 5: Add a “Later” List
Sometimes a feature is a good idea, but not a current requirement. Put those ideas in a “later” list instead of letting them interrupt the first version.
A later list might include:
- Import assignments from public domain texts
- Add optional learner accounts
- Support multiple languages
- Allow tutors to organize learners into groups
- Create printable practice sheets
This gives good ideas a place to live without letting them take over the plan. It also helps contributors see that you are not ignoring future needs. You are sequencing them.
For Open Source projects with a public-benefit mission, this matters. Many communities may have real needs. You still need an order of work that a real maintainer or small team can handle.
Step 6: Check the Scope Against Your Capacity
Before you call the plan done, compare it to your actual capacity.
Ask yourself:
- Can I build the core use cases with the time I realistically have?
- Do the requirements depend on tools or services I do not know well?
- Is any requirement secretly much larger than it looks?
- Could a new contributor understand this scope?
- Would the primary user get value if only these use cases worked?
If the answer is no, reduce the scope. Remove a use case. Simplify a requirement. Move something to the later list.
Good planning is not about proving ambition. It is about creating a path to a working tool.
A Simple Planning Template
You can copy this structure into your project notes:
- Primary user: Who this version is mainly for.
- Problem: The specific problem this version addresses.
- Core use cases: Three to five user actions the project must support.
- Requirements: What must be true for those use cases to work.
- Non-goals: What you are intentionally not building now.
- Later: Good ideas that belong after the first working version.
This does not need to be long. One page is often enough. The goal is not to create paperwork. The goal is to give your project a frame that keeps it moving.
TL;DR
Before you build, write down who the project is for, what they need to do, and what you are not building yet.
- Choose one primary user for the first version.
- Write three to five concrete use cases.
- Turn those use cases into simple requirements.
- Define non-goals so the project does not expand too fast.
- Keep a “later” list for good ideas that are not part of the current scope.
- Check the plan against your real time and capacity.
Clear scope helps Open Source developers build software that can actually reach people. When your project has boundaries, it has a better chance of becoming useful, sustainable, and ready for others to trust and improve.