Most ideas are overgrown.

Scope cuts yours back to the version worth building first: what ships in v1, what waits, and the odds of making your date. Five questions and one sentence. No sign-up, no prices, nothing stored.

Prune your idea

Watch Scope cut the example.

A physio clinic wants online booking so patients stop phoning reception. This is everything they asked for, cut one piece at a time.

Booking calendarembedded scheduler
Accounts and passwordssign in by email link
Text message reminderslater
Admin dashboardtable editor as admin
Reports and chartsexport to a spreadsheet
Reviews and ratingslater
Card payments at checkoutpayment links
Tax, VAT and invoicestax handled by the provider
iPhone and Android appsinstallable web app

Same clinic, same patients booking online. 9 cuts took it from 27 weeks with a 0% chance of week 10 to 9 weeks and 70%. What waits is what bookings have not proved yet.

Prune your idea Open this plan

Every cut names the cheaper way.

Saying no is easy. Scope asks the question underneath each piece and offers the smaller thing that answers it. Keep anything you like; the brief records that you chose to.

Do people need passwords on day one?
Passwords mean storing them, resetting them and answering emails about them. A link sent to their inbox signs them in just as well.
Accounts and passwords: swap for sign in by email link, about 2 days saved on the likely case.
Do you need the app stores, or just to work well on phones?
Two native apps are two more products to build, review and update. An installable web app reaches both phones from one codebase; go native when people use it daily.
iPhone and Android apps: swap for installable web app, about 26 days saved on the likely case.
Will there be enough reviews to mean anything in v1?
With ten customers, review stars are empty or fake. Ask for feedback by email and add reviews when volume makes them useful.
Reviews and ratings: move to later, about 5 days saved until there is scale.

Your date is the show.

Scope builds your v1 4,000 times, each piece taking a different time from its best, likely and worst case, then counts how many of those runs are ready by your date. Move the date and watch the odds.

The example, cut, ready by week

70%chance it is ready. As asked, before the cut: 0%.

Likely is when half the runs have finished; safe to promise is when 85 in 100 have. How Scope estimates

You leave with a brief, not a quote.

One page to take to any developer: what is in v1, what waits and why, what to test before building, the one number that says it worked, and the questions to ask on the first call.

Print it, copy it as Markdown, or share the link. The plan opens from the link.

Online booking for a three-room physio clinic, so patients stop phoning reception

Example brief · A booking service · prepared with Scope

Likely: 9 weeks
Safe to promise: 11 weeks
Live by week 10: 70% chance

For v1, built by one experienced developer working full time. “Safe” is when 85 of 100 simulated runs have finished. A range, not a quote.

In v1

Landing page
The page that explains it and gets people to start.
2–7 days
Embedded scheduler
Instead of booking calendar. Cal.com or Calendly inside your site, styled to match.
1–3 days
Sign in by email link
Instead of accounts and passwords. People type their email and click the link they receive. No passwords.
1–3 days
Email notifications
Confirmations, reminders and receipts by email.
1–4 days
Table editor as admin
Instead of admin dashboard. Your team edits records in a spreadsheet-like editor over the database.
1–3 days
Export to a spreadsheet
Instead of reports and charts. Download any list as a CSV file.
1–3 days
Product analytics
Counting the steps people take, so you can see where they stop.
1–3 days
Payment links
Instead of card payments at checkout. Send a hosted payment link by email. Nothing to build at checkout.
0.5–2 days
Tax handled by the provider
Instead of tax, VAT and invoices. Switch on the payment provider’s tax and invoicing.
0.5–2 days
Import your spreadsheet
Bring today’s customers and records in on day one.
2–6 days
Installable web app
Instead of iPhone and Android apps. Works like an app on phones, from one codebase, no app store.
2–7 days

Later

Text message reminders
SMS adds a provider, a cost per message and consent rules. Start with email reminders and measure no-shows first.
2–6 days
Reviews and ratings
With ten customers, review stars are empty or fake. Ask for feedback by email and add reviews when volume makes them useful.
3–9 days

About 2 more weeks of work, once v1 has shown it is needed.

Test before building

Customers will book online instead of calling.Put a booking link on the current site for a month and count how many use it.
Staff will keep availability up to date.Ask the front desk to keep one shared calendar honest for two weeks.

How we will know it worked

Bookings per week made without a phone call

The point is time back at the front desk. Online bookings that replace calls are the whole win.

Watch that it does not cost: no-shows as a share of bookings.

Questions for the first call

How many bookings a week today, and how many come by phone?
What makes a booking complicated: rooms, staff, equipment, deposits?
What happens today when someone does not turn up?

Made with Scope, free at scope.ramiashqar.com. The plan behind this brief, with every range and rule, opens from the link it was shared with.

The example’s brief, exactly as Scope writes it.

Scope asks for nothing.

~~Prices~~Day rates vary too much for a price to mean anything.
~~Your email~~The plan is yours before you have told anyone your name.
~~Guesswork~~Every range and rule is written down on the method page.
~~Your data~~Nothing is stored. The whole plan lives in the link you share.

Bring the idea that has grown too big.

Prune your idea