Lessons Learned
AI as an Architectural Lever
In a senior capacity, AI shouldn't just be used for "coding." It is a tool for architectural orchestration. By offloading boilerplate generation to Lovable and Cursor, I was able to focus on high-level systems design, data integrity, and solving complex edge cases in the user journey.
Prototyping with "Live" Context
Traditional design-to-handoff workflows often miss hardware-specific friction. By building a "Living Prototype," I could identify early that standard text inputs fail on a construction site. This led to the pivot toward multimodal inputs (Voice/Photo), which significantly increased the tool's projected adoption rate.
Managing Technical Maturity
Knowing when to leave a low-code environment is as important as knowing when to start one. Moving to Cursor was a strategic decision to prevent "technical debt" early. It allowed for the implementation of Global State Management and Git version control, ensuring the MVP was a foundation, not just a facade.
Bridging the Designer-Engineer Divide
This project reinforced that a Senior Designer’s value lies in understanding the full stack. Managing the Supabase relational schema ensured that the design wasn't just "pretty" but was fundamentally rooted in how data is structured, queried, and protected.