- a very strict requirements collection phase: You're only green-lighting one app a month, surely you could spend some time frontloading the decision making so the people proposing the idea can be very specific.
- an MVP phase: build as little as possible to have a functioning product. Everyone needs to agree what the MVP is before starting, which is the purpose of the requirements gathering.
- bounties: get the people who set out the requirements to "kickstart" the project by kicking in cash. When the project is green-lit, the cash is apportioned to the tasks within the MVP and stretch goals - additional features to supplement the MVP.
It seems like there's too much of "we'll let everyone do everything!". The developers don't need to be making decisions about what features are worthwhile, the people who pay money should have some skin in the game. If people stand to gain real money, there's got to be a gatekeeper who decides whether a merge is worth paying for.
The Assembly platform is intended to allow everyone to vote and influence the direction of an app. Assembly also actively surfaces key metrics so all decisions are data driven and can even be reevaluated and rolled back later when more data is available. In the event the community hasn't come to a clear direction and the data is inconclusive, the core team will be left to mediate disputes and decide on an outcome.
[1] https://assemblymade.com/help/general#general-7