Building a CRM from Scratch as a Solo Developer: Insights from Five Months of Development
Over the past five months, I embarked on creating an open-source Customer Relationship Management system entirely on my own, leveraging Laravel and Livewire. The journey was filled with valuable lessons, both rewarding and challenging, which I’d like to share to help fellow developers navigating similar paths.
Key Highlights and Lessons Learned
Advantages of Modern Tools:
- Filament Admin Panel: This library greatly accelerated development. Tasks that would typically span weeks were accomplished in days, allowing for rapid prototyping and iteration.
- Laravel + Livewire Synergy: Combining these technologies proved ideal for solo development. There was no need to set up a separate API or frontend layer; Livewire handles dynamic interactivity seamlessly within Laravel.
- Enjoyable Modern PHP: With 99.6% of my code typed and employing PHPStan at level 7, PHP development became more enjoyable and reliable than anticipated.
Challenges Encountered:
- Handling Custom Fields: Implementing custom fields was straightforward initially, but performance issues arose when records contained over 50 fields. Page load times increased from 250ms to around 2 seconds. Optimizations like eager loading and caching significantly improved performance.
- Focusing Development: Targeting “everyone” proved to be a mistake. Narrowing focus to small teams allowed for more tailored features and better usability.
- Open Source Commitments: Maintaining an open-source project demands ongoing effort. It’s not just a codebase; it’s a continual commitment to support and improvement.
Effective Technical Strategies:
- Adhering to Laravel Conventions: Sticking to established Laravel practices kept development efficient and maintainable.
- Early Incorporation of PHPStan: Starting static analysis from day one caught numerous bugs early, saving time and headaches later.
- Leveraging Filament: Utilizing this admin panel library eliminated the need to build an admin interface from scratch, allowing me to focus on core features.
Reflections:
Completing an MVP in five months is both an accomplishment and a reminder of the effort involved. The project is now ready for production, which is fast in terms of delivery. However, each new feature tends to take three times longer than in a team setting, emphasizing the importance of focused scope and careful planning.
If you’re interested, you can follow the ongoing development at relaticle.com. I’m also curious—what has been your experience building solo Saa
