In the digital age, how to use AI to empower product innovation? This article will delve into the application of AI in product design, analyze key technologies and strategies, and help product managers find the best balance between innovation and practicality.
As the title suggests, I used the AI Coding tool to manually rub an iOS app and launched it on the App Store, and the name of the app is “SafeMark”.
The original appeal of this app was the experience of buying a range hood at home during the Chinese New Year some time ago. At that time, the offline Xiaomi Home required that she must be sent a photo of her ID card, and because I had ID cards and other ID photos in my photo album, I gave her the photo without thinking too much. After sending it, I thought about whether I should add a watermark to prevent the document from being leaked and used by others in other places where it should not be used.
So, the prototype of this app was recorded in flomo by me. Some time ago, it was implemented with AI coding tools Cursor and Trae, and it was launched on the App Store (still under review when writing content). Although the process was bumpy, fortunately, everything was completed.
The following is the promotional image I used to launch on the App Store, which is also the first version of this app, and will be iterated in the future.
This is the second product I have put on the shelves, the first one is a Chrome plugin called flomo Quick Capture, which is available on the Chrome App Store at the address: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/flomo-quick-capture/dbfjffbkhlaeihdeibejjofoidomdfdp
In another article, I explained in detail the original intention and reason for writing this product, and the source of demand is mainly for my personal workflow design.
As for why you chose to start with Chrome plugins?
- Low development costs and quick build-up of Cursor awareness.
- It does not require a domestic compliance filing process, is fast on the shelf, and can get instant feedback.
So why did you choose to develop another app? Could it be too heavy? Or, why not a mini program?
What does a product manager need to do?
In the process of a product from scratch, it is not easy to do a good job in the role of product manager, in addition to the well-known writing requirements, writing requirements, writing requirements, there are many things to do. The product manager is not what you think, but will only ask you for trouble, make a request:
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This app is one of the products of my short-term goals, and it will also be available in the WeChat mini program. Of course, this content is not the end, but the beginning.
1. AI Coding tool
There are many AI coding tools, which can be simply divided into AI IDE tools and code generation/assistance tools.
- AI IDE tools include, Cursor, Windsurf, Trae, Trae CN, etc.
- Code assistance tools include GitHub Copilot, MarsCode, etc.
There are many lists and tutorials on related products on the Internet, just choose a convenient tool, I am using a combination of Cursor and Trae here, which is a bit of wool. Because Trae is still in the early stages of the product, Byte has not yet charged Trae users, so Trae’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet and Gemini 2.5 Pro can be purchased for free, and the capabilities of these two models are still obvious to all.
Writing here, I want to mention one more sentence. Products in the AI era,Model capabilitiesOf course, it is important, butEngineering optimizationandTool adaptationIt is self-evident that these three are co-evolutionary and mutually achieved, especially engineering optimization.
Because the same model may have different results due to the lack of engineering capabilities of the team behind it. For example, Cursor can help me generate code for complex logic, but Trae can only help me make small basic changes, such as changing colors, adding or removing a component or icon, or adjusting the position of icons.
Some time ago, when the Cursor server crashed, I tried to use Trae to help me implement some requirements, but it failed many times, and even created several new projects because I couldn’t fully restore the entire commit at once using git.
I went to ask ChatGPT, and it told me that there could be reasons:
- The granularity or scope of git operations is limited by encapsulation:Trae may have simplified commands such as reset, checkout, revert, etc., and did not fully restore the workspace and cache area like the CLI.
- Problems with the file synchronization mechanism: Some files (e.g., auto-generated cache files, user configurations) are not included in Git controls, causing them to appear “incomplete” after recovery.
- The recovery operation did not trigger a synchronous refresh of UI/memory: You restored the version, but the IDE’s runtime, cache, and preview panels may not be reloaded, causing the content you see to be the same as before.
- Only the code area was restored, and the running state/context dependencies were not restored:Trae may think that the code is simply restored and does not override the dependency state (e.g. environment variables, database snapshots, etc.).
To this day, I am still not sure the reason behind it, but I did find that the project was incomplete after resuming it, and then I built several new projects. I look forward to the opportunity to position and promote it personally.
Therefore, the correct cognition should be:A good model is a plus, the icing on the cake, not a slip of the snow。
Not to mention some time ago, it seemed that all Internet products were connected to DeepSeek, and even some manufacturers’ “mice and refrigerators” claimed that their products were connected to the “full-blooded version of DeepSeek-R1”. Let’s not discuss whether it is a “full-blooded version of DeepSeek-R1”, but in terms of the inference model of R1 alone, what business indicators have improved the product after access? Is it to get a better interactive experience? Or did you get a better answer? Or what other purpose is it meant? Compare whether the frequency and duration of use have been increased by existing users.
In fact, most of them are to satisfy political correctness or marketing gimmicks, and in reality, they are of little help to the business, and there are even products that are connected to R1 in highly immediacy services, and even if they want to connect to the DeepSeek model, it should be V3, not the reasoning model of R1. Do you expect users to use functions that you don’t use?
What I want to express is that while meeting business scenarios and needs, choosing a more suitable model is what should be done.
Digression, back to the topic of this chapter.
Choosing the right tool is important. As Trae’s popularity increases, the number of users increases, and the queue time for model calls is getting longer and longer, and I have changed from the original combination of Cursor + Trae to Cursor + Trae + Trae CN, but when it needs to be immediate, Cursor is more reliable.
2. App development and promotion process
Before the project was established, I did not do requirements analysis, let alone market research, but simply planned the basic architecture and functional modules of the app.
As mentioned earlier, complex tasks are given to Cursor, and simple tasks are given to Trae or Trae CN.
The previous habit was to create a new idea.md file (not notepad) to facilitate the reading of Ask, Agent, and Marscode. Refine the requirements, confirm the requirements, and then disassemble the tasks, splitting the tasks into executable solutions as much as possible, and let the agents write them. At this stage, when AI is not so strong, act as an AI planner to help it refine processes and steps.
I used Cursor’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet to help me generate the HTML, but I was not satisfied with the generated result, so I drew it casually considering that there were not many pages.
With the design draft, the page was quickly built by Cursor.
Coincidentally, Cursor expired, so I thought, let’s use Trae to develop it, and prostitute Claude 3.7 Sonnet for free, why not do it? Then there were a few long days: the AI wrote code, changed bugs, wrote code – changed bugs, and created several new projects.
It wasn’t until later that I opened Cursor and found a bug that had been fixed by Trae for several days, and Cursor fixed it a few times.
Because I started using a non-developer account, I spent another day registering an account, modifying account information, and waiting for the account to be approved. Of course, the waiting process is not idle, prepare the relevant information in advance, and the account will not be approved until Friday night, and finally start filling in the App Store listing information, and then rebuild the project, upload the project, and submit it for review.
For the first time, I felt really cool to complete an app by myself, and I looked forward to being downloaded, used, and used to solve problems.
3. Finally, thinking and perception
I once asked myself this question. IfThink about it in a longer timeWhat we are doing at the moment,Persist in doing it for 2, 5, 10 years, what will be the result, whether it is what you want？
Just imagine, if a company’s employees are unhappy, what fun products can they make? If you can’t find a sense of meaning in the workplace, try to do a side hustle and provide it to those who need it, thereby improving your happiness index.
About 3 years ago (early 2022), I thought that one day in the future, I would develop an app and launch it on the app store to generate side revenue. In the past 3 years, this idea has not changed, but it is constantly being revised, the revision process and the revision goal to make it more reasonable at the moment. This includes, but is not limited to,
- The core strategy of the app is to focus on the front-end over the back-end.
- It’s not just one app, it’s several.
- The app is only available for iOS, and the app store is only available on the App Store.
- Not only side hustle revenue, this method may be one of the levers for me to achieve a better life in the future.
- …
I am constantly thinking about the reasonableness of the above content, and I have even shared the above considerations with my friends around me to understand their thoughts, and then constantly revise my thinking.
61 of Mystery Technology, Shao Nan and Light of the flomo team, including Fan Bing, and Peanut, the author of the kitten fill light some time ago, whether they are independent developers or product managers, their podcast content, text content, video content, lifestyle, etc. are constantly inspiring and encouraging me.
In the current AI era, the threshold for a product manager who doesn’t know how to program to achieve app development is low enough to make today’s “design draft – development – debug – launch” app a reality.
Why did it take 3 years to get the first project?
Because with my ability at the time, doing a side hustle was not a high ROI thing. In the first few years of work, the results obtained through the workplace are far more cost-effective than spending time and energy on the so-called “side hustle”.
3 years is neither long nor long, neither short nor short. It’s not long, it’s because I started to act, and it’s not short, it’s because I started to act.
I have always had a view that work isavocation, is only a part of our lives, to meet our basic life needs, and the main business is an important way for us to pursue personal growth and realize the value of life.
In the early morning of the app launch, I immediately posted a post on the app: There is no text, the picture is the icon of the Hammer Sticky Note app.
Because there is a sentence on the icon of the hammer note that I like, from Gibran’s “The Prophet”:Don’t forget why you set out just because you have gone too far。
Okay, the astringent moment is over. I wish you a happy life and smooth work~
