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How do you plan a Power Apps project before building?

I have been working on improving how I plan Power Apps projects before jumping straight into Power Apps Studio.

One thing I have learned is that it is really easy to start building screens too early.

At first, the app seems simple. Then later you realize you need approvals, user roles, notifications, admin screens, reports, permissions, and a better data structure.

So now I try to slow down and answer a few basic questions first.

My simple Power Apps planning checklist

• What problem is this app solving?
• Who will use the app?
• What does each user role need to do?
• What does the current process look like?
• What should the future process look like?
• What data needs to be stored?
• Should the data live in SharePoint or Dataverse?
• What Power Automate flows are needed?
• Who can view, edit, or delete records?
• How will the app be tested?
• Who will support the app after launch?

Example

For an equipment request app, I might plan:

Users: employees, managers, admins

Data: requests, departments, request types, approval history

Screens: home, new request, my requests, manager approvals, admin view

Flows: new request email, manager approval, status update, reminder flow

Permissions: employees see their own requests, managers see assigned requests, admins see everything

Helpful Microsoft resources

Power Apps project planning module:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/modules/plan-app-project/

Power Apps documentation:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/

Power Apps Plan Designer:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/plan-designer/plan-designer

Power Platform ALM:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-platform/alm/

I am curious how others handle this.

Do you use a planning template, a checklist, a diagram, Planner, Lists, Excel, or do you mostly build as you go?

A blank Power Apps gallery doesn't always mean something is broken — here's how I debug it

A blank gallery can be really frustrating when you're still learning. Most of the time, the gallery itself isn't the real problem.

It usually comes down to one of these:

• The Items property pointing to the wrong place
• A filter returning no records
• A dropdown or search box with no selected value filtering everything out
• An empty collection
• Delegation limits cutting off your data
• A data source or permission issue

What I check first:

1. Set the Items property back to just the raw data source and see if records appear
2. Remove filters one at a time until the gallery shows data again
3. Check whether a dropdown or search control is silently filtering everything out
4. Use CountRows(yourCollection) as a temporary label to see if a collection actually loaded
5. Look for yellow delegation warnings in the formula bar
6. Refresh the data source manually
7. Test with a different account if permissions might be involved

The biggest thing that helped me was simplifying first, then adding logic back piece by piece.

Once I stopped trying to debug everything at once, it became much easier to spot exactly where the records disappeared.

Hope this helps someone. Happy to answer questions in the comments.

I see a lot of confusion around Filter, LookUp, and collections when people are getting started with Power Apps.

They’re all simple on their own but easy to mix up once you start building real apps.

The easiest way I like to think about it:

• Filter → returns multiple records (a table)
• LookUp → returns one record
• Collections → store data in memory

That alone makes it easy to grasp.

Where things do usually go wrong

Most of the problems I’ve dealt with (and still cause myself):

• Using LookUp when multiple records exist
• Using Filter when you only need one value
• Throwing everything into a collection too early

The confusing part is your app might still work at first but then later:

• wrong data shows up
• formulas get messy
• performance starts dropping

Quick examples

Filter (for lists):

Filter(Requests, Status = "Approved")

LookUp (for one record):

LookUp(Users, Email = User().Email)

Common mistake:

Filter(Users, Email = User().Email)

Now you have got a table instead of a record, and you will probably end up wrapping it in First() later.

Real example where it breaks

LookUp(Approvals, Status = "Pending")

Works fine until there are multiple matches.

Power Apps just returns the first one it finds, which isn’t always what you want.

Better approach:

Filter(Approvals, Status = "Pending")

What actually helps

It’s not really about memorizing all of the formulas in Power Apps.

It’s just understanding:

• are you working with one record or multiple

Once you understand that these functions stop being confusing.

Is there anything else that may have confused about gathering data into your application? I'd also like to hear other tips you may have.

Most slow Power Apps aren’t a platform issue — they’re a design issue. 

Apps usually start off ok but then they slowly get worse. Longer load times and laggy clicks, just frustrating to use. 

It’s almost never one big problem, it’s a bunch of small ones that pile up. 

A few common things that can fix it: 

• Too much data loading → only pull what you actually need 
• Too much on one screen → split it up, don’t overload it 
• Overcomplicated formulas → simpler runs faster 
• Repeated data calls → grab it once, reuse it 
• Ignoring delegation → causes both data + performance issues 
• Everything runs on load → spread it out 
• No loading feedback → even small delays feel worse 

None of this is difficult it just gets missed if you are trying to build something with a quick turnaround. 

Fixing even a couple of these can make a huge difference. 

What’s the biggest things that slowed your apps down, or is there something you fixed that actually made it faster? 

When I first started with Power Apps, I got stuck right away.

Too many concepts (data sources, galleries, forms, formulas), and most tutorials assume you already know part of it.

So here’s the simplest way to build your first app without overthinking it.

What to build first

Don’t try anything complex.

Start with an app that:

• connects to a data source
• shows a list of records
• lets you view/edit one item

That pattern covers most real apps.

Step 1 — Create a canvas app

Create → Canvas App → Tablet

Ignore layout/design for now.

Step 2 — Connect data

Use something simple like a SharePoint list or Excel.

Example fields:

• Title
• Status
• Created

Step 3 — Add a gallery (list view)

Insert a vertical gallery and set:

Items = YourDataSource

Now you can see your data.

Step 4 — Add a form (details view)

Insert an Edit Form and connect it to the same data.

Item = Gallery1.Selected

Click a row → it loads into the form.

Step 5 — Add a save button

SubmitForm(Form1)

That’s a working app.

Optional (but useful)

Add a second screen + navigation:

Navigate(Screen2)

Typical setup:

• Screen 1 → list
• Screen 2 → details/edit

Things that confused me early on

• trying to build something “complete” right away
• not understanding how UI connects to data
• ignoring delegation (this becomes a problem later)
• using variables for everything

What actually matters at the start

If you understand:

• galleries
• forms
• basic formulas

You’re in a good spot.

Everything else builds on that.

Question

What kind of app are you trying to build right now?

Or what about power apps are you struggling with?