This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mohamed Ismail
How I Stop Myself From Building Bad Ideas
I have a problem. I get excited about product ideas way too fast.
I'll be showering, and suddenly — bam — a billion-dollar idea. I write a PRD, open a code editor, and start building. Two weeks later, I realize nobody actually needs it.
I needed a way to kill bad ideas before I invested time in them. So I built a filter.
What It Does
It's a simple workflow. You write your PRD like you normally would, then run it through a set of prompts with any AI assistant. The AI analyzes your idea across 25 different angles — stuff like market demand, competition, pricing, risks, technical complexity, and even things like compliance and accessibility.
At the end, you get an HTML dashboard. It looks like a professional investment memo, but you get it in about 5 minutes.
What You'll See in the Dashboard
The dashboard has everything on one page:
- Overall score — a number from 0 to 100 with a verdict label
- Radar chart — see all your scores at a glance
- SWOT grid — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
- Risk register — what could kill your idea, with severity levels
- Market sizing — TAM, SAM, SOM breakdown
- Competitors — how you stack up against existing solutions
- Feature fit — which features actually matter
- Pricing suggestions — what people might pay
- And a lot more — 25 analysis modules total
Everything is in one HTML file. Open it, scroll around.
Why the Scores Feel Harsh
The AI is told to be honest. Brutally honest. Most ideas score below 70. That's not a bug — it's the point.
I wanted a tool that tells me the truth, not what I want to hear. If my idea scores 30, I want to know why so I can either fix it or move on.
The prompts specifically tell the AI to:
- Never sugarcoat
- Never invent traction or users
- Be direct about flaws
- Use real market assumptions, not wishful thinking
How I Use It
I write a PRD for any idea that excites me. Takes about an hour. Then I run the analysis. If the score is low and the feedback reveals problems I can't solve, I drop the idea and move to the next one.
It saves me weeks of building things nobody wants.
If the score is decent and the feedback points to fixable problems, I know exactly what to work on first.
The Project Is Open Source
Everything is on GitHub — the prompts, the HTML template, the workflow instructions. You can use it with any AI chatbot you like. No installation needed.
GitHub: github.com/ihssmaheel-dev/prd-intelligence-skill
I still get excited about ideas. I just don't build all of them anymore.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Mohamed Ismail
Mohamed Ismail | Sciencx (2026-05-29T13:54:49+00:00) 🛑 How I Stop Myself From Building Bad Ideas. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2026/05/29/%f0%9f%9b%91-how-i-stop-myself-from-building-bad-ideas/
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