Product Development - Vibe Coding Magic
- Layla Foord
- Aug 31
- 4 min read
Updated: Sep 2
I’ve been working in product since you had to sketch ideas with pen and paper. From developing one of the first drag-and-drop reporting tools to introducing mobile route planners using live traffic data and I’ve always loved turning ideas into something useful. Watching someone use what you’ve made, and find it helpful, is still magic.
But something shifted over the past few weeks.
I’ve built three fully working applications, end to end. No ticketing systems. No roadmaps. No rituals. Just me, a browser, and a problem I wanted to solve.
These aren’t MVPs or pitch decks. They’re micro-tools and each is designed to do one or two things really well.
Vibe coding gets a lot of bad press, I think that's because it is threatening and so we diminish its potential. But for an imagineer, it really is product development magic and ever so slightly addictive.
Tool 1: The 30-Minute Teleprompter
This one came out of necessity. I needed a teleprompter for a video, and most of the ones on the App Store were either expensive or overcomplicated. So I made one. It took 30 minutes to get it working well enough, and I used it that same afternoon. A few days later, people at work were using it too.
That was the moment I remembered: this is what I’ve always wanted product to feel like.
Tool 2: The Overbuilt Cooking Assistant
The second tool was a little... excessive. A cooking assistant with voice-guided recipes, adaptive meal planning based on dietary needs, an OpenAI content engine, and a voice API so users could choose meals by talking. I even hooked it up to Stripe for subscriptions and built a whole recipe database.
It worked. It was ambitious.
It was also too much.
I built some crazy stuff. But eventually, the dopamine wore off and the complexity caught up with me.
Tool 3: Spark Planner - The Workshop Planner
Then I had to plan a full team strategy day.
Now I’ve run a lot of workshops in my time. But finding the right activity, balancing break times, figuring out the right arc for a group — it can be maddening. I was back in the usual mess: digging through old Miro boards, copy-pasting from Notion, stitching together PDFs, and wondering why I still hadn’t figured out a better way.
So I stopped.
And I built Spark Planner instead.
How Spark Planner Came to Life in Six Days, Like Magic
This time, I did things differently.
I used a product-led approach and not just in theory, but in practice.
Lean loops, fast feedback, behavioural data, and just enough polish to earn attention.
Day 1: The Real MVP
Intelligent Drag-and-Drop Builder
Visual schedule creation where users drag activities from bank to timeline
Automatic time calculation with smart duration and start time updates
Activity bank filtering with context-aware activity suggestions
Dual view exports for both participant schedule and facilitator guide
Dual Export Intelligence
Participant Schedule with clean timeline view for attendees
Facilitation Guide containing detailed instructions, materials, and step-by-step guidance
PDF generation to direct download with professional formatting
Context-aware content
Workshop Type Ecosystem
6 curated workshop types with unique activity libraries
Colour-coded organisation with custom icons
Type-specific AI suggestions — activities tailored to workshop goals
Progressive disclosure — information revealed based on selection
Built-in Fake Door Testing System
Real-time feature validation — test demand before building
4 different feature types tracked (delivery mode, custom workshops, custom activities, AI generator)
User feedback collection — love/hate feedback stored locally
Beta badges and coming soon UI — professional feature preview experience
Day 2: Build the Value Loop First
I ignored settings, accounts, and edge cases. Instead, I focused on one thing: can a facilitator build a real workshop right now and does it feel good?
Drag-and-drop schedule builder
Library of activities (with durations, materials, and instructions)
AI-generated intros, goals, and outcomes
Exports for participants and facilitators
It worked. Not perfectly. But enough.
Day 3: Remove the Friction
I made it anonymous-first:
Anonymous-First Architecture
Zero-friction onboarding so users can start planning workshops instantly without sign-up
Local storage persistence where workshops save automatically
URL-based sharing via unique tokens
Maximum user feedback collection with no barriers
AI-Powered Workshop Generator
GPT-4o integration for contextual activity suggestions
Workshop-type intelligence where AI understands retros, design sprints, etc.
Structured JSON responses with materials, instructions, timing, participant counts
One-click generation with a magic wand button creating 3 new activities instantly
Next: I Added Real Product Signals & Fake Doors
I expanded with:
A smarter drag-and-drop builder (it's still a bit glitchy on a wider screen)
Dual export system for participants and facilitators (still a bit ugly but it works)
Visual workshop type selection with tailored AI
Feature tracking via fake doors and feedback
Each interaction is tracked. Each click feeds a live dashboard. I can see what sparks curiosity and what gets ignored.
Pricing & Feature Validation
I set up a feedback form to capture what people are willing to pay for the current features, what they’d love to have, and what they’d pay for that. I can see this in real-time on the dashboard, helping me decide what to build next because people don’t always say and do the same things.
Launch Time
I deployed Spark Planner:
Custom domain (not beautiful, but good enough)
Branded UI
Google Analytics
Integrated feedback form
Live admin dashboard tracking clicks, comments, and pricing intent
This is what I’ve always wanted product work to feel like, not roadmaps and presentations, just solving problems and seeing if it works.
Over to You
Check out the Spark Planner beta, and if you’ve got thoughts, I’d love to hear them. Be kind and constructive — this is an experiment, and we’re in it together.
-Layla
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