Circles – Product Vision & Roadmap

Circles is a small-group messaging experience designed to strengthen relationships by helping people talk more often about things that actually matter.

Serverless · Cloud-native Family & friends first Depth over scroll Small groups, richer stories

1. One-line product pitch

Circles helps families and close friends build stronger relationships by making it easy to share short, meaningful prompts and responses in small, private groups.

2. The problem

Modern social tools are optimized for engagement, not connection. People skim endless feeds, like each other’s photos, and still feel surprisingly alone. Important stories stay locked in people’s heads, and the people who matter most rarely get our best attention.

Families live in different cities and time zones but still want to feel close.
Group chats are noisy — the people who talk the most set the tone, and quieter voices fade into the background.
Most apps encourage shallow interactions instead of deeper, two-way conversations.
People want more than photos and memes — they want shared memories, understanding, and encouragement.

Circles is built around a simple idea: small, focused groups plus thoughtful prompts can create deeper, more frequent interactions that make people feel seen and valued.

3. Product vision

Circles is a lightweight, privacy-first way for families and close friends to stay connected through short, intentional conversations.

Two to ten people at a time: small enough that everyone can be heard.
Prompt-driven: the app suggests short questions that spark stories, reflection, and encouragement.
Depth and frequency: make it easy to share something real, a little more often, without requiring long essays or big time commitments.
Multi-circle support: people can belong to several circles (immediate family, siblings, a friend group, etc.) while keeping each space personal.
Low-friction onboarding: simple invite links and an identity model that works for non-technical family members.

4. Persona example (fictitious)

The following persona is entirely fictitious. It illustrates the type of impact Circles is designed to support.

“Emily” – 28, moved away from home

Works remotely, recently relocated for a job, close to her family but often feels disconnected from their daily lives.

Fictitious persona

Emily grew up in a tight-knit family but moved several states away for a new role. Her family has a group text, but most days it’s quiet, and when people do post, conversations quickly drift off topic. She scrolls social media in the evenings, sees photos of friends and family, and still feels strangely alone.

One of her siblings sets up a “Siblings Circle” in the Circles app and invites Emily and their brother. The app starts suggesting short, easy prompts each day — things like “What’s one small win from this week?” or “Share a memory from a childhood vacation.”

Over time, Emily finds herself answering a prompt most evenings. Her siblings respond, sometimes with a quick reaction, sometimes with their own stories. They start to understand each other’s routines, stressors, and joys in a way that text and photos never quite captured.

Emily still lives far from home, but she no longer feels like she’s living a separate life. The daily rhythm of prompts and responses helps her feel known, remembered, and valued.

This is not based on a real user. It represents the type of emotional and relational outcome Circles aims to support for real families and friend groups.

5. Design principles

Depth over volume: we optimize for meaningful exchanges, not total message count.
Small groups first: the core experience is 2–10 people who actually know each other.
Gentle prompts, not guilt: reminders and AI prompts are nudges, not nags.
Low cognitive load: users should be able to open Circles, see one good question, respond in a minute or two, and feel glad they did.
Respect and safety: simple, predictable privacy; no surprise audience changes; no noisy recommendation feeds.

6. Product roadmap (Done / Next / Later)

Circles is being built incrementally as a working, serverless product. The table below shows what is already live, what is up next, and what is planned for later iterations.

Done

I1 – Core SPA + API + DB Static SPA on S3/CloudFront, API Gateway + Lambda, DynamoDB messages.

I2 – Cognito sign-in Hosted UI, JWT-based auth, basic session handling in the frontend.

I3 – Multi-circle memberships DynamoDB Circles and CircleMemberships tables, per-user circle access.

I4 – UX & circle selection Cleaner UI, dynamic circle list from the API, message posting per circle.

I5 – Invitations & onboarding Single-use invite tokens with TTL, invite acceptance flow and automatic membership.

I6 – Analytics MVP /api/stats endpoint and simple dashboard for circles, members, and memberships.

I7 – AI prompt engine Bedrock-powered endpoint (Claude 3 Haiku) to suggest 3–5 short, family-safe prompts on demand.

F1 – Circle tags & tailored prompts Tag circles (e.g., “parents with younger kids”, “siblings”, “grandparents”) so AI prompts can match tone and life stage.

F2 – SES email invites Send email invitations directly from Circles, with secure links back into the app and clear opt-in.

F3 – UX polish & lightweight testing Refine layout, add small affordances (toasts, loading states), and run hallway usability checks with real families.

F4 – Prompt “streaks” & gentle nudges Optional streak-like feedback that rewards consistency without shaming missed days.

Later

F5 – Auth code + PKCE Move from implicit flow to authorization code + PKCE for a more modern, interview-ready auth posture.

F6 – Rich analytics Circle-level engagement metrics, prompt conversion rates, and lightweight cohort views.

F7 – Scheduled prompts & A/B testing Experiment with scheduled prompts and different styles of questions to see what best supports real connection.

F8 – Mobile-first refinements More ergonomic mobile layout, larger tap targets, and faster paths to “answer a prompt and be done.”

7. How we’ll know it’s working

Because the goal is relational depth, success is measured in conversations, not clicks. Some example signals:

Weekly engaged circles: number of circles with at least one meaningful exchange that week.
Prompt response rate: how often a suggested prompt leads to at least one reply.
Participation balance: whether most members contribute over time, not just one or two voices.
Qualitative feedback: short, open-ended comments from testers on whether Circles helps them feel more connected.

The long-term aim is simple: if people feel more known, more encouraged, and less alone because a small group is regularly sharing honest, everyday stories, then Circles is doing its job.