What a year. In We’re Coding Something Awesome I updated you all on my new job, and the new product we were about to launch. I can’t believe that was three months ago. Since then I’ve only published three blog posts and written a handful of drafts. I don’t yet have a writing routine. And life is busy. So it’s time for an update on why life is busy.
I have two major projects at the moment.
We launched in April, and it was quite successful. We’ve mostly had positive feedback from the companies that have signed up, and it’s been growing steadily. Our code-base is getting massive. We’ve released a lot of new features since the launch and really improved the look and feel as we go along. It’s nice to have people use something we’re building.
We still have tons of code to write. We’re busy rounding off the first major module, with another three in the pipeline. We’ve had a lot of extra work to do with all the user feedback we’ve received. With every update, our system gets better.
We’re all learning a lot, and the ideas are still swimming.
After we launched and our working hours got more normal, I decided to start a side project. Something fun, commercially viable, that solves a problem and adds value to people. The two industries that I’m most cautious to program for are health and finance. Sensitive information. Lots of responsibility. And tremendous opportunity.
I love the idea of building awesome software that small companies can afford. So many companies are still using excel to store and process their operational data. It’s affordable and does just about anything. I feel a sense of failure when I see people running logistics companies, tracking hospital hours, doing stock management and keeping their books…in excel. But I also see market gaps. And lots of them.
I know a couple of biokineticists. I approached them with a business model and plan and we started working on a proof of concept called Rehabit. It’s a tool for building home programs, in-practice programs, and tracking patient compliance and recovery. We’ve reached out to a few other practitioners and there seems to be a decent amount of interest. We’ve also had interest from physiotherapists and sports scientists.
We’re planning to launch the minimum viable product in August, and then hopefully to officially launch in early 2021.
Lots to figure out. Much code to write.
I picked up two new habits over the past few months. Time tracking, and weekly progress summaries. Both of these contribute to my motivation and sanity.
I’ve been tracking my hours using a pretty cool app called Toggl. Without this, I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of how much time I’m putting towards each project. It also helps me know when to take a break.
Work (659 hours over 4 months)
Side Project (171 hours over 2 months)
Here’s a link to my WhatGotDone profile
Before I found this little gem, I had a log of everything that I did for the day on our project management tool. After about a month it started getting messy and difficult to maintain. I was trying to track what I had achieved for the day, and what needed to be done simultaneously. It was also serving as a notepad for random information that people threw at me.
Now I just take a few minutes to reflect on the week, and document what got done. Sometimes I feel like everything is going so slowly, and this is a great way to see progress.
You can also see what other people have done, and most of them seem to be programmers. Which I think is pretty cool. It’s like a small community of people getting stuff done.
Learning a lot. Excited about life.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with either of these products, I’ve just enjoyed using them both.
