From Personal Tool to Rugby Platform
I thought I wanted to share files. Turns out I wanted to share animations. That shift, and a few 'speed-run' lessons, changed everything.
On the 1st of February I was staring at a "buggy, semi-deployed mess" of a coaching tool. Today, I’m looking at the blueprint for a full-scale rugby coaching platform. If you've ever felt like your project was one bad "speed-run" away from total collapse, this update is for you.
The "Speed Trap" and the 7 P's
At the start of February, I hit a wall. I was racing against tool limits and forced a massive replan: moving from offline files to online storage. I moved too fast, entrusted too much to the AI without checkpoints, and created "compound debugging debt".
The Fix: I had to slow down.
I realised that Planning IS Execution. I spent 90 minutes building a "polish-plan" for a project, which then allowed the AI to work semi-autonomously.
- Lesson: If you can’t see the architecture, you can’t maintain it. I started using Spec-Kit to turn vague ideas into executable specs before writing a single line of code.
- The Breakthrough: Coaching Animator v2.0
Interest is growing in wider adoption of the tool, highlighting the value it can add for fellow grassroots coaches. I am no longer just building a tool for myself; I am building a platform.
Key Features in the v2.0 Pipeline:
- Animation Progressions: Grouping drills into "Base + 5 variations" to support pedagogical teaching.
- Organisational Accounts: Special tiers for clubs and unions with unlimited quotas and branding rights.
- Mobile-First Replay: Optimised playback for WhatsApp sharing, ensuring players can view movement patterns on a mobile screen pitchside.
- Version Control: No more "Save As..." nightmares; the system now tracks versions with auto-archiving.
Engineering Your Workflow
For the curious engineers: I’ve officially moved to the CLEO (Contextual Logging & Epic Orchestration) workflow to manage this scale.
| Component | Role in My Stack | |
|---|---|---|
| Claude (Opus 4.6) | High-level architecture and complex debugging. | |
| Antigravity / Gemini | Rapid grind-work and planning validation. | |
| Obsidian | The "Second Brain" for capturing insights without breaking flow. |
What’s Next: The Backlog
I recently launched a dedicated Project Idea Backlog at /backlog. It’s a "Simple Ship"—display-only for now, but it tracks 10 potential builds, including a Stoic Reflection Bot and a Rugby Drill Library.
The Meta-Lesson: Vibe coding isn't about coding without thinking. It's about thinking so clearly that the coding becomes obvious.
The next few weeks will focus on breaking down these v2.0 requirements into manageable feature blocks.