Pareto of Learning No-Code & New Case Study ✨
How to actually learn a No-Code Platform in 20% of the time.
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What is Pareto Principle?
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff22a697e-7861-4be4-884a-4a2df5cefc5d_2560x1440.jpeg)
The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is a theory maintaining that 80 percent of the output from a given situation or system is determined by 20 percent of the input. The principle doesn't stipulate that all situations will demonstrate that precise ratio – it refers to a typical distribution.
Basically, you spend 20% of the time as input and get 80% of output. When you begin to approach No-Code, it takes a lot of time to learn. It's harder because, you are figuring out your idea, design, workflows & eventually you also have to learn about No-Code platforms to implement your idea. This is an inefficient and Ineffective way of learning & executing your ideas.
I came up with these learnings and systems after building with No-Code products for 15+ months. Here’s a quick tweet thread:
![Twitter avatar for @Iruhdam24](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/Iruhdam24.jpg)
Clarity on No-Code Platforms
A fundamental clarity every maker needs to have is:
👉 No-Code platforms are not made for design, they are only made for execution. You need to be ready with design, workflow and product strategy before you even jump into No-Code.
👉 No-Code Platforms are designed for work with how technology actually works like, you need to be aware of basics of Interfaces before you jump in.
Constraints for Learning
When I started with #noco30d for nocolo.co I wanted to learn about Adalo or Bubble in the following constraints:
Explorations are to be done in less than 3 days.
Explore all options and constraints of the No-Code Platform.
Get an overall understanding of how workflows & data works in that platform.
Based on these points I started to develop a simple system for the same; Here let's look at it with example of Music App.
Step 1: Start with Simple App Idea
Start with a basic Music app, something familiar. Make a music app which has the following aspects:
Artist Page with basic details
Album Page with 2-3 Songs from each album.
Playing the Song
Relations showing the artist has albums & the albums has related artists.
Step 2: Work with Data
When you work with data you actually understand, how any platform handles the data and wether it can actually fit your context.
For example: I learned that Adalo does not give me an option to show my data as Time, only currency was available.
Setup your data in a spreadsheet. Setting up a spreadsheets allows you to see the details and the connections in your information (View how a spreadsheet can be setup).
Here is the data for you to practice:
Get on Google sheets
Step 3: Imitate existing Design
I was able to build out Music app quickly using a familiar layout like Spotify and make workflows using the above Data. It really helped in understanding the constraints of the No-Code platforms.
For example: I realised that Adalo did not really handle responsiveness well & had issues with alignment once published (See the final result).
Step 4: Final Decision Time
Once you conducted this simple experiment:
If you see that the platform has more potential, you should invest more time in learning the nuances and making more workflows.
If not, choose a different No-Code Platform and see if it fits your needs by repeating the same experiment.
Your Context
Learning is highly dependent on context and motivation. There is a difference between being a No-Coder and shipping a project using No-Code.
The above method works for Learning more about a platform & also to ship your project. If you are looking for learning no-code to become a No-Coder, you need to shift your strategies.
How to maximise your No-Code shipping and learning?
Define a project.
Gather the data that your product needs.
Design the workflows of your product.
Working with timelines and ship consistently.
Being a No-Coder means a lot more and deserves more detailed posts of its own.
New Case Study: Little Black Book
I have been a long ardent user of Little Black Book which practically allowed us to find cool cafes and brands that I never knew in and around India.
We had a great time chatting with Dhruv, Co-Founder of LBB on how they use Retool, Webflow and Airtable internally and also to ship to customer quickly.
This a particularly important case study if you are a startup or an organisation and looking for effective and efficient ways to improve collaboration and effective working among teams.
![Twitter avatar for @dxmathur](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_96/dxmathur.jpg)
![Twitter avatar for @teamnocoloco](https://substackcdn.com/image/twitter_name/w_40/teamnocoloco.jpg)
Learn how Little Black Book, a Discovery startup uses No-code to effectively and efficiently using No-Code.
Check it out & share your thoughts with us & subscribe 😉
Any questions or thoughts regarding No-Code?
Reply to this email and we’ll get back to you!
Happy No-coding,
Beautifully written! Thanks for sharing this :)