Under the Radar

00:00:00 ◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

00:00:01 ◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm

00:00:03 ◼   ► Marco Arment and I'm David Smith under

00:00:06 ◼   ► the radar is never longer than 30

00:00:07 ◼   ► minutes so let's get started

00:00:09 ◼   ► happy new year everybody happy new year

00:00:12 ◼   ► we decided to talk about what it's like

00:00:15 ◼   ► to get back into work after a break like

00:00:17 ◼   ► the New Year's break you know just the

00:00:19 ◼   ► kind of getting your brain back into

00:00:21 ◼   ► that space into like the pace of work

00:00:23 ◼   ► and then once you finally get there how

00:00:27 ◼   ► do you decide even what to tackle

00:00:29 ◼   ► because chances are you know after a big

00:00:31 ◼   ► vacation or after the holiday break

00:00:33 ◼   ► holidays are especially bad at it but

00:00:35 ◼   ► but after these things we tend to have a

00:00:37 ◼   ► lot of stuff piled up a lot of things

00:00:39 ◼   ► that we need to address work that

00:00:41 ◼   ► accumulated while we were gone things

00:00:43 ◼   ► that we should probably get going on and

00:00:45 ◼   ► so there's a bit of a tricky question

00:00:47 ◼   ► but how do you prioritize those things

00:00:49 ◼   ► and then once you get going with working

00:00:51 ◼   ► like how do you like how do you get

00:00:53 ◼   ► going how do you begin work and then

00:00:57 ◼   ► after that I think we want to talk a

00:00:59 ◼   ► little bit about how do we plan kind of

00:01:02 ◼   ► the first few months of the year you

00:01:04 ◼   ► know that in the case of a New Year's

00:01:06 ◼   ► break like this you know we have there's

00:01:09 ◼   ► a lot of things about the corporate

00:01:10 ◼   ► world that that go by years things like

00:01:13 ◼   ► you know ad budgets PR and everything

00:01:15 ◼   ► else we talked before about seasonality

00:01:16 ◼   ► and so the first three months of the

00:01:18 ◼   ► year is an interesting time to plan for

00:01:21 ◼   ► to get things done to consider you know

00:01:23 ◼   ► what to work on whether to release

00:01:25 ◼   ► things and everything else we're gonna

00:01:27 ◼   ► get into all of that David are you back

00:01:30 ◼   ► to work yet yes only just I think I've

00:01:34 ◼   ► essentially did I mean and it's kind of

00:01:37 ◼   ► a strange end of the year because I was

00:01:39 ◼   ► launching a new app which I usually

00:01:41 ◼   ► don't like to do that time of year but

00:01:44 ◼   ► for this particular time like I'd hoped

00:01:46 ◼   ► originally to launch workouts plus plus

00:01:48 ◼   ► in probably November or something but it

00:01:51 ◼   ► just didn't end up working out like if

00:01:52 ◼   ► the project took longer than I'd

00:01:54 ◼   ► originally expected and so it was you

00:01:56 ◼   ► know launched I think it was December

00:01:57 ◼   ► 21st or something which is not not

00:02:00 ◼   ► advisable and be especially because you

00:02:02 ◼   ► kind of go through the process of

00:02:04 ◼   ► launching something you get it out and

00:02:06 ◼   ► then all of a sudden you have a lot of

00:02:09 ◼   ► you know delightful but just sort of

00:02:12 ◼   ► distracting family

00:02:13 ◼   ► and things such that you know I really

00:02:16 ◼   ► put myself so most like I just took this

00:02:18 ◼   ► took this app through it or threw it

00:02:20 ◼   ► over a wall into the world and they just

00:02:21 ◼   ► like ran away for a couple days which is

00:02:25 ◼   ► not exactly what you want you know I did

00:02:27 ◼   ► my best like I checked into the support

00:02:28 ◼   ► thing every now and then and you know I

00:02:30 ◼   ► hadn't there are a few little out sir a

00:02:32 ◼   ► few little initial bug fixes that you

00:02:34 ◼   ► inevitably have I was able to get those

00:02:36 ◼   ► put together and they're you know

00:02:38 ◼   ► they're currently waiting interview but

00:02:40 ◼   ► then you're just gonna fall off the map

00:02:41 ◼   ► in a in a good way and like I think it's

00:02:43 ◼   ► probably also good to start up this

00:02:44 ◼   ► discussion off by saying that like

00:02:46 ◼   ► taking breaks and having periods of time

00:02:49 ◼   ► when you're not working is desirable is

00:02:52 ◼   ► a good thing like it's a bit of a

00:02:54 ◼   ► problem that we're kind of looking at it

00:02:56 ◼   ► from the perspective now of how do you

00:02:58 ◼   ► deal with that when you come back to

00:02:59 ◼   ► work but there's certainly an advantage

00:03:02 ◼   ► to having that that separation to take

00:03:04 ◼   ► some time away both in terms of your

00:03:07 ◼   ► just mental health and overall

00:03:08 ◼   ► well-being and also probably just to

00:03:11 ◼   ► build a little bit of perspective to me

00:03:12 ◼   ► to come back to things and be like what

00:03:14 ◼   ► do I actually want to work on what was I

00:03:16 ◼   ► doing before that I was just doing out

00:03:18 ◼   ► of inertia rather than out of desire but

00:03:21 ◼   ► for me yeah now I'm back working again

00:03:24 ◼   ► and kind of it's especially weird for me

00:03:26 ◼   ► right now cuz I'm coming back to edit

00:03:28 ◼   ► after essentially skewing all work on my

00:03:32 ◼   ► side project all my other apps except

00:03:33 ◼   ► for workouts plus plus for the last like

00:03:35 ◼   ► 2 or 3 months so I gotten all those apps

00:03:38 ◼   ► into a pretty good state roughly with

00:03:42 ◼   ► the launch of iOS 10 like I'd done you

00:03:44 ◼   ► nice like I did a big update and then a

00:03:46 ◼   ► bug-fix update for most of my apps

00:03:48 ◼   ► around Iowa's ten they were all in a

00:03:50 ◼   ► good place and I go off and work on

00:03:52 ◼   ► workouts plus plus for a couple of

00:03:53 ◼   ► months and now I'm in a place where I

00:03:55 ◼   ► have to look at all my work and say like

00:03:59 ◼   ► what do I actually want to work on next

00:04:01 ◼   ► what should I work on next and I do find

00:04:04 ◼   ► it really awkward and like tricky when

00:04:07 ◼   ► you end up this kind of it's the paradox

00:04:09 ◼   ► of choice I think it's called or just

00:04:11 ◼   ► being overwhelmed more simply where you

00:04:14 ◼   ► look at all of the universe of things

00:04:16 ◼   ► that you could do and have to having to

00:04:18 ◼   ► try and understand what the right thing

00:04:21 ◼   ► to do and especially when you have to

00:04:24 ◼   ► deal with these weird tensions between

00:04:25 ◼   ► like what do I think is the

00:04:27 ◼   ► best thing financially for my business

00:04:29 ◼   ► for me to do well the thing what I enjoy

00:04:32 ◼   ► most working on a thing do I think my

00:04:34 ◼   ► customers are most expecting what you

00:04:38 ◼   ► know where should I go in terms of what

00:04:40 ◼   ► what project I think I would learn the

00:04:41 ◼   ► most from like there's lots of different

00:04:43 ◼   ► reasons and I like my first day back

00:04:45 ◼   ► which I think goes on I guess the day

00:04:48 ◼   ► after New Year's Day whatever that is

00:04:50 ◼   ► January 2nd January 3rd looking at I

00:04:53 ◼   ► just sat down and have like opened up

00:04:56 ◼   ► the omnia focus for the first time in a

00:04:57 ◼   ► long time because when I'm gonna period

00:05:00 ◼   ► when I'm working on an app like

00:05:01 ◼   ► warehouse plus like been a pretty

00:05:02 ◼   ► focused manner if I could Afeni if I

00:05:04 ◼   ► come across any things in my other apps

00:05:06 ◼   ► or I get feature requests or things that

00:05:08 ◼   ► sound good I just kind of throw them all

00:05:09 ◼   ► into there which i think is you know a

00:05:11 ◼   ► sane system to just kind of rather than

00:05:13 ◼   ► thinking about them and trying to manage

00:05:14 ◼   ► them as you go just postpone that until

00:05:17 ◼   ► you until it's time that meant that you

00:05:20 ◼   ► know this week I've been having to sit

00:05:21 ◼   ► down and be like you know filter through

00:05:23 ◼   ► just page after page of ideas of

00:05:26 ◼   ► thoughts of things and in general I

00:05:30 ◼   ► think my approach to this kind of thing

00:05:31 ◼   ► is I just tend to latch on to one or two

00:05:36 ◼   ► things that I think I can reasonably

00:05:38 ◼   ► make progress with and in some ways this

00:05:41 ◼   ► kind of makes me think of like I used to

00:05:43 ◼   ► run track in high school and it sort of

00:05:45 ◼   ► looks like the warm-up lap it's the

00:05:46 ◼   ► before you actually can start working

00:05:48 ◼   ► properly you have to go out and do a

00:05:52 ◼   ► little bit of work but not really hard

00:05:54 ◼   ► work just a little bit of something to

00:05:55 ◼   ► get you back into this into the flow of

00:05:57 ◼   ► things and so like today I've been

00:05:59 ◼   ► working on a little you know it's like a

00:06:00 ◼   ► minor feature and pedometer plus plus

00:06:02 ◼   ► that I think is useful and good and

00:06:05 ◼   ► isn't a particularly high stress or high

00:06:07 ◼   ► risk feature but it's something that I

00:06:09 ◼   ► think would be useful and I can kind of

00:06:10 ◼   ► go through the process of working on

00:06:12 ◼   ► something again get you know sort of get

00:06:15 ◼   ► back in the flow and then once I finish

00:06:17 ◼   ► this little once I finished my warm-up

00:06:19 ◼   ► lap I expect to then dive into me some

00:06:21 ◼   ► of the bigger features and some of the

00:06:22 ◼   ► bigger tasks that I think are going to

00:06:25 ◼   ► take more of my mental energy take more

00:06:28 ◼   ► of my focus and you the kind of things

00:06:31 ◼   ► that I don't really want to do Cole's

00:06:32 ◼   ► after you know spending a week or two

00:06:34 ◼   ► with very little work one of the

00:06:37 ◼   ► challenges I face in getting warmed up

00:06:40 ◼   ► you know as you put the warm-up lap was

00:06:42 ◼   ► great one of the big challenges I face

00:06:44 ◼   ► is that when you've been away from a

00:06:47 ◼   ► project for a while whether that's just

00:06:49 ◼   ► like you know a five-day weekend and

00:06:51 ◼   ► we're yury your mind totally somewhere

00:06:53 ◼   ► else or whether it's you know something

00:06:55 ◼   ► something like a big break where you're

00:06:57 ◼   ► working on something else for a little

00:06:58 ◼   ► while and you got a like sideline

00:06:59 ◼   ► something else one of the big challenges

00:07:01 ◼   ► I have is knowing where to even start

00:07:04 ◼   ► because this is the kind of problem

00:07:06 ◼   ► where like you know people people like

00:07:08 ◼   ► us who are indie developers who don't

00:07:10 ◼   ► really work with other people we're

00:07:12 ◼   ► basically the the job of everything

00:07:14 ◼   ► falls on us it's very easy to get lazy

00:07:17 ◼   ► with your organizational system about

00:07:19 ◼   ► things like your your to-do list your

00:07:22 ◼   ► your you know tracking of what you have

00:07:24 ◼   ► to do next and and also like

00:07:27 ◼   ► documentation of things like your code

00:07:29 ◼   ► and your app and what these things do

00:07:31 ◼   ► what these different parts do it's very

00:07:34 ◼   ► easy to fall into the trap of well it's

00:07:36 ◼   ► all in my head as I'm working on it and

00:07:38 ◼   ► I could just remember these things so I

00:07:40 ◼   ► don't need to write this down I don't

00:07:41 ◼   ► need to document this code I don't need

00:07:44 ◼   ► to to manage a to-do list because I know

00:07:46 ◼   ► what I have to do you know and I am

00:07:49 ◼   ► guilty of this worse than anybody else

00:07:51 ◼   ► like I hardly ever write anything down I

00:07:53 ◼   ► keep only a very basic to-do list in

00:07:57 ◼   ► task paper of like you know things I

00:07:59 ◼   ► need I want to do for this version and

00:08:01 ◼   ► like like the entire like overcast 3.0

00:08:03 ◼   ► to-do list is something like twenty

00:08:05 ◼   ► lines long it's not this is not like a

00:08:07 ◼   ► very granular thing to do move to the

00:08:10 ◼   ► time and you know towards the end I'll

00:08:13 ◼   ► have like a bug punch list basically

00:08:14 ◼   ► that's a little bit more granular but

00:08:16 ◼   ► otherwise you know most of the time I'm

00:08:18 ◼   ► working on something I don't have

00:08:19 ◼   ► anything like that it's just kind of all

00:08:20 ◼   ► in my head so when I'm facing the

00:08:22 ◼   ► problem my biggest challenge is just

00:08:23 ◼   ► like I know what I have to do I have to

00:08:26 ◼   ► keep things more documented I have to

00:08:28 ◼   ► keep my - duze more organized but I

00:08:30 ◼   ► don't usually do it or or I do it to a

00:08:33 ◼   ► very half hardier degree and it's it's

00:08:35 ◼   ► more of a challenge of personal

00:08:36 ◼   ► discipline than anything else I'm just

00:08:38 ◼   ► like you know when you're when you're

00:08:40 ◼   ► solo it's it's so easy to to not do

00:08:44 ◼   ► things the way that you have to like it

00:08:45 ◼   ► when you work in a job with other people

00:08:48 ◼   ► you kind of always have to be writing

00:08:50 ◼   ► things down and coordinating to dues and

00:08:52 ◼   ► having a road map because it's kind of

00:08:54 ◼   ► possible to work with the people without

00:08:55 ◼   ► having some degree of that and they're

00:08:57 ◼   ► also usually like a well working place

00:09:00 ◼   ► should usually be at least somewhat

00:09:02 ◼   ► prepared for somebody leaving or

00:09:04 ◼   ► quitting or getting fired at any time

00:09:05 ◼   ► and some and other people being able to

00:09:08 ◼   ► pick up their work where they left off

00:09:09 ◼   ► and when you're when you're a solo

00:09:11 ◼   ► developer like like us it's so easy to

00:09:13 ◼   ► not have those kind of safeguards

00:09:15 ◼   ► because you think you don't need them

00:09:16 ◼   ► but when whenever you have to take any

00:09:18 ◼   ► kind of a break or juggle multiple

00:09:19 ◼   ► projects you really do need to think

00:09:21 ◼   ► about those exact same strategies yeah I

00:09:24 ◼   ► mean and I actually was bit by exactly

00:09:26 ◼   ► that the last day or so where in this

00:09:30 ◼   ► work that I've been doing on pedometer

00:09:31 ◼   ► plus applies so I haven't worked on the

00:09:33 ◼   ► app for probably since October I think

00:09:35 ◼   ► so like two or three months and I sit

00:09:37 ◼   ► down and I start using it I noticed

00:09:39 ◼   ► something weird going on in my data

00:09:41 ◼   ► system where a certainly iOS API call

00:09:44 ◼   ► wasn't returning the values that I

00:09:46 ◼   ► expected it to and as I started looking

00:09:48 ◼   ► into this and this is really weird like

00:09:50 ◼   ► it's a very one of these weird edge case

00:09:52 ◼   ► bugs where if I give a certain value to

00:09:55 ◼   ► healthkit API I get no data back but if

00:09:59 ◼   ► I do a lots you know sort of other

00:10:00 ◼   ► things it works fine which is really

00:10:02 ◼   ► weird bug like man this is strange and I

00:10:04 ◼   ► spent about a half a day working on this

00:10:06 ◼   ► bug seeing if I can come you know find a

00:10:07 ◼   ► workaround if I can avoid it in the end

00:10:10 ◼   ► I found like I found no solution and I

00:10:13 ◼   ► was like alright well I should probably

00:10:14 ◼   ► use for file a file at radar about this

00:10:16 ◼   ► just to make sure that Apple knows that

00:10:18 ◼   ► this is a bug and I go open up bug

00:10:20 ◼   ► report at AFRICOM you know go into my

00:10:24 ◼   ► little account and one of the the top

00:10:26 ◼   ► radars in there was me reporting this

00:10:28 ◼   ► exact bug in August of last year which I

00:10:33 ◼   ► was reporting it against like beta 2 or

00:10:35 ◼   ► beta 3 in iOS 10 clearly I had

00:10:39 ◼   ► completely forgotten that I'd done this

00:10:43 ◼   ► exact process before but this is a great

00:10:46 ◼   ► example though of this like I just

00:10:47 ◼   ► wasted half a day trying to track this

00:10:49 ◼   ► thing down that a few months ago I did

00:10:51 ◼   ► exactly the same thing and I suppose

00:10:54 ◼   ► it's it is such a tricky thing though to

00:10:56 ◼   ► want to document in great detail all the

00:11:00 ◼   ► varies these kinds of things because it

00:11:02 ◼   ► is so easy to rely on your own memory

00:11:04 ◼   ► and like I think in many ways I find

00:11:06 ◼   ► really like one of the

00:11:07 ◼   ► core skills of development is memory

00:11:11 ◼   ► wear like I am at my most effective

00:11:14 ◼   ► programming the more of an application I

00:11:18 ◼   ► can sort of hold in my head at once

00:11:20 ◼   ► where I know where all the features are

00:11:22 ◼   ► I know how they all interconnect and

00:11:24 ◼   ► having that kind of like loading that at

00:11:26 ◼   ► loading all that information into my

00:11:27 ◼   ► brain is like where it gets really

00:11:28 ◼   ► efficient and helpful where I don't I'm

00:11:30 ◼   ► not like sick constantly you know

00:11:32 ◼   ► command effing all over the whole

00:11:34 ◼   ► project trying to find the various

00:11:36 ◼   ► things like I just know where they are

00:11:37 ◼   ► but if you take a few months off and you

00:11:41 ◼   ► come back to a project you can find

00:11:42 ◼   ► yourself in these situations where like

00:11:45 ◼   ► you just forgot that you've solved this

00:11:47 ◼   ► problem or you've gone through the all

00:11:48 ◼   ► of the work to determine that no

00:11:49 ◼   ► solution exists and like in this case

00:11:52 ◼   ► like what I really should have done when

00:11:54 ◼   ► I could solve this the first time I ran

00:11:55 ◼   ► into this problem the first time is I

00:11:57 ◼   ► should have just had a little comment in

00:11:59 ◼   ► my code that said you know this this API

00:12:02 ◼   ► fails in this way you know radar filed

00:12:04 ◼   ► here's the radar number you know for my

00:12:06 ◼   ► own reference just so that you know it's

00:12:08 ◼   ► like when I could this morning when I

00:12:10 ◼   ► ran into this I could thank passed south

00:12:12 ◼   ► you know pest Dave for going back there

00:12:14 ◼   ► reporting this short-circuiting this

00:12:16 ◼   ► whole thing and knowing that like okay

00:12:18 ◼   ► yeah it's a bug is filed Apple hasn't

00:12:20 ◼   ► fix it yet but you know I can move on

00:12:22 ◼   ► and don't need to worry about it or at

00:12:25 ◼   ► least I already did worried about it but

00:12:27 ◼   ► that disciplined about that is I think

00:12:29 ◼   ► really hard because yeah it doesn't feel

00:12:32 ◼   ► like I think it's really difficult to

00:12:35 ◼   ► judge how far into the future you're

00:12:38 ◼   ► going to need to know where you are and

00:12:40 ◼   ► on the flip side obviously you could

00:12:42 ◼   ► take the other extreme and get really

00:12:44 ◼   ► carried away and be documenting

00:12:46 ◼   ► everything and all of your everything is

00:12:48 ◼   ► like super detailed and you end up in

00:12:49 ◼   ► like a proper like a formal like

00:12:51 ◼   ► software model where you have like the

00:12:53 ◼   ► requirements and you have the

00:12:54 ◼   ► development and you have the testing

00:12:55 ◼   ► documents and like you can go way

00:12:57 ◼   ► overblown as well but there is

00:13:00 ◼   ► definitely something that experiences

00:13:02 ◼   ► like I had today definitely reinforces

00:13:04 ◼   ► for me where like I need to be a little

00:13:05 ◼   ► bit more and honestly it's probably the

00:13:07 ◼   ► kind of thing where just being like 10%

00:13:10 ◼   ► more descriptive in my gig commits in my

00:13:13 ◼   ► comments would have a disproportionate

00:13:17 ◼   ► impact in my ability to come back to

00:13:19 ◼   ► work

00:13:19 ◼   ► and to feel that I understand what's

00:13:22 ◼   ► going on is it's almost like a like a

00:13:25 ◼   ► hierarchy of caches you know it's like a

00:13:27 ◼   ► terminology it's like you know we all

00:13:29 ◼   ► know that you know as you said like when

00:13:31 ◼   ► when you have a whole bunch of the

00:13:32 ◼   ► program in your head you are way more

00:13:34 ◼   ► effective that's what we refer to when

00:13:37 ◼   ► we're talking about being in the zone

00:13:38 ◼   ► and as programmers like it's basically

00:13:40 ◼   ► having a whole bunch of the program in

00:13:42 ◼   ► your head which is like the highest

00:13:43 ◼   ► level cache like the l1 cache or the

00:13:46 ◼   ► registers and then as as things like you

00:13:49 ◼   ► know get evicted from either time or or

00:13:52 ◼   ► crowdedness hey you have to start you

00:13:56 ◼   ► know relying on other on other things to

00:13:58 ◼   ► to keep the stuff in your head or to or

00:14:01 ◼   ► to refer to other resources to get it

00:14:04 ◼   ► back in your head and you know a quick

00:14:07 ◼   ► little Doc comment in the code or good

00:14:10 ◼   ► documentation of like the architecture

00:14:12 ◼   ► of the code is way more effective at

00:14:15 ◼   ► like when you when you have a cache miss

00:14:17 ◼   ► in your brain and you have to go fetch

00:14:18 ◼   ► it from this external resource that's

00:14:20 ◼   ► way faster than like having to repeat

00:14:23 ◼   ► eight hours of coding only to make the

00:14:26 ◼   ► same mistakes over and over again only

00:14:28 ◼   ► to discover the same eventual truth at

00:14:30 ◼   ► the end that you could have discovered

00:14:31 ◼   ► with what you know a quick little

00:14:33 ◼   ► comment on in the code and it's in too

00:14:35 ◼   ► many ways it reminds me of a some advice

00:14:37 ◼   ► I remember hearing once about when

00:14:39 ◼   ► you're like writing a little - duze for

00:14:41 ◼   ► yourself like if you're capturing those

00:14:43 ◼   ► kinds of thoughts of the importance of

00:14:44 ◼   ► capturing complete thoughts not things

00:14:48 ◼   ► that just would just make sense at the

00:14:50 ◼   ► time you know so like if I record a

00:14:52 ◼   ► little to do that says you know it's

00:14:54 ◼   ► like table view height adjustment like

00:14:57 ◼   ► at them at that moment I may know

00:14:59 ◼   ► exactly what that means and it sounds

00:15:02 ◼   ► completely silly to behive a show you

00:15:03 ◼   ► feel like fully expanded out like table

00:15:06 ◼   ► view height adjustment in stat screen of

00:15:08 ◼   ► pedometer plus plus like that if I don't

00:15:12 ◼   ► include all those other nouns I'm gonna

00:15:14 ◼   ► come back to that later and be like what

00:15:16 ◼   ► does this mean like it becomes just

00:15:17 ◼   ► complete gibberish and garbage even

00:15:19 ◼   ► though at the time it feels like

00:15:21 ◼   ► completely unnecessary because I know I

00:15:23 ◼   ► understand entirely the context and so

00:15:26 ◼   ► the thing in the same way it's like when

00:15:27 ◼   ► you're ready to do is it's important and

00:15:29 ◼   ► then use in something similarly with you

00:15:31 ◼   ► in your

00:15:32 ◼   ► in your code or your internal

00:15:33 ◼   ► documentation and I mean obviously we

00:15:35 ◼   ► have the benefit though I will say of we

00:15:37 ◼   ► just have to write things that make

00:15:38 ◼   ► sense to us that we know ourselves

00:15:41 ◼   ► better it's not like we're trying to

00:15:43 ◼   ► write something that anybody with any

00:15:46 ◼   ► level of sophistication or understanding

00:15:48 ◼   ► would be of the project or of

00:15:49 ◼   ► programming in general we'll be able to

00:15:51 ◼   ► pick up like we know ourselves we know

00:15:52 ◼   ► what you know like what short hands and

00:15:55 ◼   ► what terms and things we can just use

00:15:57 ◼   ► but I think it's very important to have

00:16:00 ◼   ► that kind of perspective of like how can

00:16:01 ◼   ► I be kind to my future self in my

00:16:04 ◼   ► current self rather than just assuming

00:16:07 ◼   ► that my future self will like kind of

00:16:08 ◼   ► work it out oh yeah because like

00:16:10 ◼   ► especially like you know as as the

00:16:12 ◼   ► amount of time extends you know if

00:16:15 ◼   ► you're writing something for your future

00:16:16 ◼   ► self of four days from now that's very

00:16:18 ◼   ► different from your future self of four

00:16:20 ◼   ► months from now or four years from now

00:16:22 ◼   ► and as like I think it very quickly gets

00:16:26 ◼   ► to a point that the this is this is not

00:16:28 ◼   ► like a slow progression I think even

00:16:30 ◼   ► after a few weeks or a few months of not

00:16:32 ◼   ► working on something you approach it

00:16:35 ◼   ► almost as if a stranger would approach

00:16:37 ◼   ► it like you're your future self is way

00:16:41 ◼   ► less familiar with what you're working

00:16:43 ◼   ► on right now then your present self

00:16:45 ◼   ► might realize and if you could if you

00:16:47 ◼   ► can kind of get that into your head and

00:16:48 ◼   ► internalize that and start remembering

00:16:50 ◼   ► that as you're doing this kind of

00:16:52 ◼   ► documentation or prep work or or

00:16:55 ◼   ► anything like that

00:16:56 ◼   ► you can really save your future self a

00:16:59 ◼   ► lot of hassle because your future self

00:17:00 ◼   ► is going to look at your current code

00:17:02 ◼   ► and projects almost as if a stranger

00:17:05 ◼   ► we're looking at them anyway or sponsor

00:17:07 ◼   ► this week is somebody who never takes a

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00:17:35 ◼   ► the web hosting world and tell you I'm

00:17:36 ◼   ► telling you I've used a lot between all

00:17:38 ◼   ► the different things I've worked on I've

00:17:39 ◼   ► used a lot of web hosting I've used

00:17:40 ◼   ► literally hundreds of servers in web

00:17:43 ◼   ► hosting

00:17:43 ◼   ► and Linode is by far by far my favorite

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00:17:50 ◼   ► is there now and the only things that

00:17:51 ◼   ► aren't there are things I just haven't

00:17:53 ◼   ► gotten or it's moving there yet because

00:17:54 ◼   ► you know moving things as a pain but if

00:17:56 ◼   ► you're looking for a new host or if

00:17:58 ◼   ► you're willing to go through the hassle

00:18:00 ◼   ► of moving to a new web host I'm telling

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00:18:03 ◼   ► Linode it is amazing the control panel

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00:18:42 ◼   ► so as listener of this show if you sign

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00:18:58 ◼   ► radar 2017 that's of radar 2017 at

00:19:02 ◼   ► checkout thank you so much to Linode for

00:19:05 ◼   ► supporting this show so I think it's

00:19:07 ◼   ► also probably fair and now that we've

00:19:08 ◼   ► kind of come back into our work to

00:19:11 ◼   ► discuss and work through a little bit of

00:19:13 ◼   ► what makes sense to plan out for the

00:19:16 ◼   ► first part of the year because maybe we

00:19:18 ◼   ► talked about it before with like iOS

00:19:19 ◼   ► development has a schedule and a cadence

00:19:23 ◼   ► kind of dictated to it's somewhat

00:19:25 ◼   ► externally we're you know starting

00:19:27 ◼   ► around June 1st or so you know we get

00:19:30 ◼   ► into the new stuff cycle we're from June

00:19:33 ◼   ► until about September we'll have new iOS

00:19:35 ◼   ► betas new devices new what Evers that

00:19:38 ◼   ► are going to be announced the fall is

00:19:41 ◼   ► the kind of fall out from that period

00:19:43 ◼   ► where we start to you know all these

00:19:47 ◼   ► things actually go out into the wild and

00:19:48 ◼   ► they get to see how that you get used in

00:19:50 ◼   ► practice and then we kind of get into

00:19:52 ◼   ► this next phase which i think is in some

00:19:54 ◼   ► ways my most enjoyable part of this

00:19:57 ◼   ► go where you know from roughly now

00:19:59 ◼   ► you've gotten through Christmas and New

00:20:01 ◼   ► Year's so from now until June we have

00:20:04 ◼   ► about six months to just work on

00:20:07 ◼   ► whatever we want in a lot of ways and I

00:20:09 ◼   ► tend to like this time of year for

00:20:12 ◼   ► polishing doing a lot of like point one

00:20:15 ◼   ► point two releases working on a lot of

00:20:18 ◼   ► things that you know didn't make sense

00:20:21 ◼   ► to try and squeeze in with a major iOS

00:20:25 ◼   ► update the things like that where I can

00:20:27 ◼   ► sit down and I can spend you know it's

00:20:29 ◼   ► you know a significant amount of time

00:20:31 ◼   ► without quite the same time pressure as

00:20:34 ◼   ► I would if I was doing it over the

00:20:35 ◼   ► summer or in the fall you know where now

00:20:37 ◼   ► I can kind of if I take stupid ends up

00:20:39 ◼   ► taking an extra couple weeks it's fine

00:20:41 ◼   ► there's no there's no external

00:20:42 ◼   ► constraints or things that I'm trying to

00:20:44 ◼   ► fight around and so I tend to look at it

00:20:47 ◼   ► and that's kind of like my planning

00:20:48 ◼   ► right now for all of my apps you know

00:20:50 ◼   ► it's like I century I'm just gonna be

00:20:51 ◼   ► sitting there making out these kind of

00:20:53 ◼   ► big point releases for all my apps do

00:20:56 ◼   ► you know I have taken these kind of nice

00:20:57 ◼   ► features that I think are value-adds

00:21:00 ◼   ► and honestly even a lot of what ends up

00:21:02 ◼   ► happening with me is I as I have so many

00:21:05 ◼   ► apps but they're all kind of related you

00:21:07 ◼   ► know all my plus plus apps are health

00:21:09 ◼   ► and fitness

00:21:10 ◼   ► oriented and so what I've started what

00:21:12 ◼   ► I've started to do too is I'll end up

00:21:14 ◼   ► doing something in one of them that I

00:21:15 ◼   ► feel like will make sense to kind of

00:21:18 ◼   ► incorporate back into the other ones and

00:21:20 ◼   ► so I expect to be doing a lot of that

00:21:22 ◼   ► this sure if I guess what we're gonna

00:21:24 ◼   ► call this period like in the new year

00:21:26 ◼   ► / - through the spring where I can go

00:21:29 ◼   ► through and kind of just get everything

00:21:31 ◼   ► in a nice solid robust kind of like

00:21:34 ◼   ► making these features a little bit

00:21:36 ◼   ► deeper like maybe that's right I could

00:21:38 ◼   ► way to think of it - like in this summer

00:21:39 ◼   ► and in the summer and fall I tend to

00:21:42 ◼   ► think of it as kind of widening the apps

00:21:44 ◼   ► making them incorporate these new

00:21:46 ◼   ► features incorporating these new

00:21:48 ◼   ► platforms whatever makes sense and then

00:21:50 ◼   ► you know sort of the first half of the

00:21:52 ◼   ► year is more about taking those things

00:21:54 ◼   ► and kind of digging them deeper and

00:21:55 ◼   ► adding at all those little touches that

00:21:58 ◼   ► make the app that richer that you didn't

00:22:01 ◼   ► quite I wasn't quite a didn't quite have

00:22:03 ◼   ► time to do in the first place yeah

00:22:06 ◼   ► because you know the fall is you know we

00:22:07 ◼   ► spend so much of the fall just and the

00:22:10 ◼   ► summer even just like

00:22:11 ◼   ► adapting new things or adopting new

00:22:13 ◼   ► things and keeping up with all that

00:22:16 ◼   ► bells new stuff and you know from from

00:22:18 ◼   ► January through June apples pretty quiet

00:22:19 ◼   ► usually and so yeah we it's it's a great

00:22:22 ◼   ► time you know as you said like to work

00:22:24 ◼   ► on you know quality to broaden your

00:22:27 ◼   ► feature base I would say it's a great

00:22:29 ◼   ► time to address things like user

00:22:31 ◼   ► requests like feature feature requests

00:22:33 ◼   ► from people they're very common like

00:22:34 ◼   ► because you don't have anything else for

00:22:36 ◼   ► the most part competing with this time

00:22:38 ◼   ► most of the rest of the year you have

00:22:40 ◼   ► like external pressure of things you

00:22:43 ◼   ► need to be keeping up with or doing or

00:22:44 ◼   ► planning for right now

00:22:45 ◼   ► this part of the year is basically like

00:22:47 ◼   ► work on the core make the app better

00:22:50 ◼   ► make your stuff better try you know if

00:22:52 ◼   ► you want to start experimenting with

00:22:54 ◼   ► with brand new features or start

00:22:57 ◼   ► planning what your next big release

00:22:58 ◼   ► might be this is a good time for that of

00:23:01 ◼   ► course I'm following on this advice

00:23:02 ◼   ► myself I'm actually of course preparing

00:23:04 ◼   ► to launch my 3.0 now but that's not

00:23:06 ◼   ► because it was planned this way it's

00:23:07 ◼   ► because it took too long was a long shit

00:23:09 ◼   ► in the fall and I just didn't but but

00:23:12 ◼   ► you know this is and honestly this is

00:23:15 ◼   ► not a bad time to release a big point

00:23:16 ◼   ► your a big point o update because

00:23:19 ◼   ► there's not a lot else going on and

00:23:22 ◼   ► there there is some concern there that

00:23:24 ◼   ► you know you need to be aware of things

00:23:26 ◼   ► like the PR seasons and calendar and

00:23:29 ◼   ► advertising and everything everything

00:23:31 ◼   ► like that one of the good things is that

00:23:33 ◼   ► well a good thing if you're if you're

00:23:37 ◼   ► looking to buy ads or you know things

00:23:40 ◼   ► like a store search ads you know or ads

00:23:42 ◼   ► on people's podcasts or ads on websites

00:23:43 ◼   ► or whatever else Facebook ads usually ad

00:23:46 ◼   ► inventory is is pretty low in January

00:23:50 ◼   ► and February and this is a terrible

00:23:52 ◼   ► thing if you make your money via ads as

00:23:55 ◼   ► you taught me and you were right that

00:23:57 ◼   ► basically your ad revenue tends to drop

00:24:00 ◼   ► pretty sharply in you know in the first

00:24:02 ◼   ► few days of January compared to the year

00:24:04 ◼   ► before and you know compared to the week

00:24:06 ◼   ► before even like in December and and

00:24:09 ◼   ► sometimes it takes like big corporate ad

00:24:11 ◼   ► budgets a little while to get organized

00:24:13 ◼   ► and start buying things for the new year

00:24:15 ◼   ► and so if you are an indie making money

00:24:18 ◼   ► via ads you know I think it's important

00:24:20 ◼   ► not to freak out too much about that

00:24:21 ◼   ► because it's temporary and if you are

00:24:23 ◼   ► buying ads

00:24:24 ◼   ► this is kind of an awesome time to buy

00:24:26 ◼   ► hats if you're indie because you don't

00:24:28 ◼   ► have to work on the annual corporate

00:24:29 ◼   ► budget and get approval from a bunch of

00:24:30 ◼   ► in departments you can just buy the ads

00:24:32 ◼   ► right now and so you actually might be

00:24:34 ◼   ► able to get a pretty pretty good deal on

00:24:36 ◼   ► an inventory where things are a little

00:24:38 ◼   ► bit cheaper than they normally would be

00:24:39 ◼   ► so this is that's also worth considering

00:24:41 ◼   ► but for the most part I think you mainly

00:24:43 ◼   ► have to have to be aware of like you

00:24:46 ◼   ► know not releasing things too close to a

00:24:49 ◼   ► holiday or a slow time or a slow weekend

00:24:52 ◼   ► but I think we're mostly past that now

00:24:53 ◼   ► you know as we talk about those it's a

00:24:55 ◼   ► January 4th probably coming out on the

00:24:57 ◼   ► 5th so you know we're past New Year's

00:24:59 ◼   ► Day and and like the day or two after I

00:25:02 ◼   ► think pretty much any time now

00:25:04 ◼   ► from now forward is ok to release things

00:25:05 ◼   ► without too much trouble yeah and it's

00:25:08 ◼   ► just a good like in some ways I it's a

00:25:11 ◼   ► good is just a good time to get back to

00:25:14 ◼   ► work like in a good way like I always

00:25:16 ◼   ► find that the the fall just feels just

00:25:19 ◼   ► so disjointed for me like it's really

00:25:23 ◼   ► hard to really get stuck into things

00:25:25 ◼   ► because there's just so many things

00:25:26 ◼   ► going on yes certainly both

00:25:28 ◼   ► professionally as well as personally

00:25:30 ◼   ► that I kind of like the thought of like

00:25:33 ◼   ► nothing's really gonna happen for the

00:25:36 ◼   ► next couple of months and so getting

00:25:38 ◼   ► into a normal rhythm getting into about

00:25:40 ◼   ► in you know kind of starting some new

00:25:42 ◼   ► habits not necessarily like you know

00:25:43 ◼   ► like have New Year's resolutions

00:25:44 ◼   ► perspective or just by benefit of there

00:25:47 ◼   ► not being things that are going to be

00:25:48 ◼   ► messing with your schedule you know it's

00:25:51 ◼   ► kind of a nice time to be able to to

00:25:53 ◼   ► look at that and to hopefully like I

00:25:55 ◼   ► really enjoyed this process of sitting

00:25:58 ◼   ► down and eating like what do I want to

00:26:00 ◼   ► work on you know what what is actually

00:26:01 ◼   ► going to be an interesting thing to

00:26:04 ◼   ► build when I'm listing or what about

00:26:05 ◼   ► would I enjoy in that and so it's a good

00:26:08 ◼   ► time to be thoughtful about that and to

00:26:10 ◼   ► kind of think that you know what is

00:26:11 ◼   ► something that's maybe like the level of

00:26:14 ◼   ► difficulty might be a little higher you

00:26:16 ◼   ► know this is a good time to maybe to try

00:26:18 ◼   ► and fail it's true you try something

00:26:20 ◼   ► that's a bit risky that might work out

00:26:22 ◼   ► like it's a better time to do that now

00:26:24 ◼   ► then you know later in the year or when

00:26:28 ◼   ► things are a bit more high pressure you

00:26:30 ◼   ► know like though I've I think we're

00:26:32 ◼   ► three Christmases ago back when the

00:26:34 ◼   ► Christmas bump was just drew

00:26:37 ◼   ► like I remember never late isn't the

00:26:39 ◼   ► AppStore I would you know the Christmas

00:26:41 ◼   ► stay and the day after Christmas were

00:26:43 ◼   ► something like 8% 10% of my yearly

00:26:46 ◼   ► revenue like he was huge and dramatic oh

00:26:48 ◼   ► yeah

00:26:49 ◼   ► thankfully that's kind of settled down a

00:26:50 ◼   ► bit like I was as cool as it was to make

00:26:52 ◼   ► that much money like was it bit

00:26:53 ◼   ► terrifying because I remember a couple

00:26:55 ◼   ► years ago I had a bug in my main app

00:26:59 ◼   ► that I released like I think about five

00:27:03 ◼   ► six days before Christmas I hate it and

00:27:06 ◼   ► it turned out the bug like the app works

00:27:09 ◼   ► completely fine except for all of the

00:27:11 ◼   ► in-app purchase didn't only have

00:27:13 ◼   ► purchases didn't work it worked fine so

00:27:16 ◼   ► I couldn't make any money exactly so

00:27:18 ◼   ► that was a bit terrifying and I you know

00:27:20 ◼   ► did the book it was one of these like

00:27:22 ◼   ► trivial things there's a bit of debug

00:27:24 ◼   ► logic that I had to flip over and then

00:27:26 ◼   ► you know resubmitted to Apple did the

00:27:28 ◼   ► expedited request and in the end it was

00:27:31 ◼   ► fine like the app was you know working

00:27:33 ◼   ► in a functional way on Christmas Day

00:27:35 ◼   ► which was super important but I loved

00:27:38 ◼   ► that one who sort of sort of passed some

00:27:40 ◼   ► of these things where you have that high

00:27:42 ◼   ► stakes that high stress that if that app

00:27:44 ◼   ► had been broken on Christmas day it

00:27:46 ◼   ► would have had a dramatic impact and so

00:27:47 ◼   ► I in love this kind of time of the year

00:27:49 ◼   ► where if something gets if something

00:27:51 ◼   ► gets busted if something gets broken

00:27:52 ◼   ► like the stakes are much lower like it's

00:27:55 ◼   ► still impactful it's not like that I

00:27:56 ◼   ► want to just be cavalier about things

00:27:58 ◼   ► but it's nice to kind of have that

00:27:59 ◼   ► pressure taken off a little bit and to

00:28:02 ◼   ► be able to kind of really dive into some

00:28:04 ◼   ► bigger projects in that way oh yeah I

00:28:06 ◼   ► mean and you said earlier main it like

00:28:08 ◼   ► about how this is such a great work time

00:28:10 ◼   ► because like there's no interruptions

00:28:12 ◼   ► like I love this time of year I mean I

00:28:14 ◼   ► hate winter in general because I can't

00:28:15 ◼   ► go outside because the outside world is

00:28:17 ◼   ► just just hates me but I'm a huge fan of

00:28:20 ◼   ► the amount of work I can get done during

00:28:22 ◼   ► this time because yeah there's no

00:28:24 ◼   ► holidays there's no well there's fear a

00:28:26 ◼   ► few holidays there there's no like

00:28:27 ◼   ► family needs really it's just a solid

00:28:30 ◼   ► like couple of months really where

00:28:32 ◼   ► there's nothing else to do but work and

00:28:34 ◼   ► I kind of like it so anyway thank you

00:28:38 ◼   ► everybody for listening good luck

00:28:39 ◼   ► getting back to work yourselves and

00:28:41 ◼   ► we'll talk to you next week bye