Under the Radar

◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm

◼   ► Marco Arment and I'm David Smith under

◼   ► the radar is never longer than 30

◼   ► minutes so let's get started

◼   ► happy new year everybody happy new year

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

◼   ► to get back into work after a break like

◼   ► the New Year's break you know just the

◼   ► kind of getting your brain back into

◼   ► that space into like the pace of work

◼   ► and then once you finally get there how

◼   ► do you decide even what to tackle

◼   ► because chances are you know after a big

◼   ► vacation or after the holiday break

◼   ► holidays are especially bad at it but

◼   ► but after these things we tend to have a

◼   ► lot of stuff piled up a lot of things

◼   ► that we need to address work that

◼   ► accumulated while we were gone things

◼   ► that we should probably get going on and

◼   ► so there's a bit of a tricky question

◼   ► but how do you prioritize those things

◼   ► and then once you get going with working

◼   ► like how do you like how do you get

◼   ► going how do you begin work and then

◼   ► after that I think we want to talk a

◼   ► little bit about how do we plan kind of

◼   ► the first few months of the year you

◼   ► know that in the case of a New Year's

◼   ► break like this you know we have there's

◼   ► a lot of things about the corporate

◼   ► world that that go by years things like

◼   ► you know ad budgets PR and everything

◼   ► else we talked before about seasonality

◼   ► and so the first three months of the

◼   ► year is an interesting time to plan for

◼   ► to get things done to consider you know

◼   ► what to work on whether to release

◼   ► things and everything else we're gonna

◼   ► get into all of that David are you back

◼   ► to work yet yes only just I think I've

◼   ► essentially did I mean and it's kind of

◼   ► a strange end of the year because I was

◼   ► launching a new app which I usually

◼   ► don't like to do that time of year but

◼   ► for this particular time like I'd hoped

◼   ► originally to launch workouts plus plus

◼   ► in probably November or something but it

◼   ► just didn't end up working out like if

◼   ► the project took longer than I'd

◼   ► originally expected and so it was you

◼   ► know launched I think it was December

◼   ► 21st or something which is not not

◼   ► advisable and be especially because you

◼   ► kind of go through the process of

◼   ► launching something you get it out and

◼   ► then all of a sudden you have a lot of

◼   ► you know delightful but just sort of

◼   ► distracting family

◼   ► and things such that you know I really

◼   ► put myself so most like I just took this

◼   ► took this app through it or threw it

◼   ► over a wall into the world and they just

◼   ► like ran away for a couple days which is

◼   ► not exactly what you want you know I did

◼   ► my best like I checked into the support

◼   ► thing every now and then and you know I

◼   ► hadn't there are a few little out sir a

◼   ► few little initial bug fixes that you

◼   ► inevitably have I was able to get those

◼   ► put together and they're you know

◼   ► they're currently waiting interview but

◼   ► then you're just gonna fall off the map

◼   ► in a in a good way and like I think it's

◼   ► probably also good to start up this

◼   ► discussion off by saying that like

◼   ► taking breaks and having periods of time

◼   ► when you're not working is desirable is

◼   ► a good thing like it's a bit of a

◼   ► problem that we're kind of looking at it

◼   ► from the perspective now of how do you

◼   ► deal with that when you come back to

◼   ► work but there's certainly an advantage

◼   ► to having that that separation to take

◼   ► some time away both in terms of your

◼   ► just mental health and overall

◼   ► well-being and also probably just to

◼   ► build a little bit of perspective to me

◼   ► to come back to things and be like what

◼   ► do I actually want to work on what was I

◼   ► doing before that I was just doing out

◼   ► of inertia rather than out of desire but

◼   ► for me yeah now I'm back working again

◼   ► and kind of it's especially weird for me

◼   ► right now cuz I'm coming back to edit

◼   ► after essentially skewing all work on my

◼   ► side project all my other apps except

◼   ► for workouts plus plus for the last like

◼   ► 2 or 3 months so I gotten all those apps

◼   ► into a pretty good state roughly with

◼   ► the launch of iOS 10 like I'd done you

◼   ► nice like I did a big update and then a

◼   ► bug-fix update for most of my apps

◼   ► around Iowa's ten they were all in a

◼   ► good place and I go off and work on

◼   ► workouts plus plus for a couple of

◼   ► months and now I'm in a place where I

◼   ► have to look at all my work and say like

◼   ► what do I actually want to work on next

◼   ► what should I work on next and I do find

◼   ► it really awkward and like tricky when

◼   ► you end up this kind of it's the paradox

◼   ► of choice I think it's called or just

◼   ► being overwhelmed more simply where you

◼   ► look at all of the universe of things

◼   ► that you could do and have to having to

◼   ► try and understand what the right thing

◼   ► to do and especially when you have to

◼   ► deal with these weird tensions between

◼   ► like what do I think is the

◼   ► best thing financially for my business

◼   ► for me to do well the thing what I enjoy

◼   ► most working on a thing do I think my

◼   ► customers are most expecting what you

◼   ► know where should I go in terms of what

◼   ► what project I think I would learn the

◼   ► most from like there's lots of different

◼   ► reasons and I like my first day back

◼   ► which I think goes on I guess the day

◼   ► after New Year's Day whatever that is

◼   ► January 2nd January 3rd looking at I

◼   ► just sat down and have like opened up

◼   ► the omnia focus for the first time in a

◼   ► long time because when I'm gonna period

◼   ► when I'm working on an app like

◼   ► warehouse plus like been a pretty

◼   ► focused manner if I could Afeni if I

◼   ► come across any things in my other apps

◼   ► or I get feature requests or things that

◼   ► sound good I just kind of throw them all

◼   ► into there which i think is you know a

◼   ► sane system to just kind of rather than

◼   ► thinking about them and trying to manage

◼   ► them as you go just postpone that until

◼   ► you until it's time that meant that you

◼   ► know this week I've been having to sit

◼   ► down and be like you know filter through

◼   ► just page after page of ideas of

◼   ► thoughts of things and in general I

◼   ► think my approach to this kind of thing

◼   ► is I just tend to latch on to one or two

◼   ► things that I think I can reasonably

◼   ► make progress with and in some ways this

◼   ► kind of makes me think of like I used to

◼   ► run track in high school and it sort of

◼   ► looks like the warm-up lap it's the

◼   ► before you actually can start working

◼   ► properly you have to go out and do a

◼   ► little bit of work but not really hard

◼   ► work just a little bit of something to

◼   ► get you back into this into the flow of

◼   ► things and so like today I've been

◼   ► working on a little you know it's like a

◼   ► minor feature and pedometer plus plus

◼   ► that I think is useful and good and

◼   ► isn't a particularly high stress or high

◼   ► risk feature but it's something that I

◼   ► think would be useful and I can kind of

◼   ► go through the process of working on

◼   ► something again get you know sort of get

◼   ► back in the flow and then once I finish

◼   ► this little once I finished my warm-up

◼   ► lap I expect to then dive into me some

◼   ► of the bigger features and some of the

◼   ► bigger tasks that I think are going to

◼   ► take more of my mental energy take more

◼   ► of my focus and you the kind of things

◼   ► that I don't really want to do Cole's

◼   ► after you know spending a week or two

◼   ► with very little work one of the

◼   ► challenges I face in getting warmed up

◼   ► you know as you put the warm-up lap was

◼   ► great one of the big challenges I face

◼   ► is that when you've been away from a

◼   ► project for a while whether that's just

◼   ► like you know a five-day weekend and

◼   ► we're yury your mind totally somewhere

◼   ► else or whether it's you know something

◼   ► something like a big break where you're

◼   ► working on something else for a little

◼   ► while and you got a like sideline

◼   ► something else one of the big challenges

◼   ► I have is knowing where to even start

◼   ► because this is the kind of problem

◼   ► where like you know people people like

◼   ► us who are indie developers who don't

◼   ► really work with other people we're

◼   ► basically the the job of everything

◼   ► falls on us it's very easy to get lazy

◼   ► with your organizational system about

◼   ► things like your your to-do list your

◼   ► your you know tracking of what you have

◼   ► to do next and and also like

◼   ► documentation of things like your code

◼   ► and your app and what these things do

◼   ► what these different parts do it's very

◼   ► easy to fall into the trap of well it's

◼   ► all in my head as I'm working on it and

◼   ► I could just remember these things so I

◼   ► don't need to write this down I don't

◼   ► need to document this code I don't need

◼   ► to to manage a to-do list because I know

◼   ► what I have to do you know and I am

◼   ► guilty of this worse than anybody else

◼   ► like I hardly ever write anything down I

◼   ► keep only a very basic to-do list in

◼   ► task paper of like you know things I

◼   ► need I want to do for this version and

◼   ► like like the entire like overcast 3.0

◼   ► to-do list is something like twenty

◼   ► lines long it's not this is not like a

◼   ► very granular thing to do move to the

◼   ► time and you know towards the end I'll

◼   ► have like a bug punch list basically

◼   ► that's a little bit more granular but

◼   ► otherwise you know most of the time I'm

◼   ► working on something I don't have

◼   ► anything like that it's just kind of all

◼   ► in my head so when I'm facing the

◼   ► problem my biggest challenge is just

◼   ► like I know what I have to do I have to

◼   ► keep things more documented I have to

◼   ► keep my - duze more organized but I

◼   ► don't usually do it or or I do it to a

◼   ► very half hardier degree and it's it's

◼   ► more of a challenge of personal

◼   ► discipline than anything else I'm just

◼   ► like you know when you're when you're

◼   ► solo it's it's so easy to to not do

◼   ► things the way that you have to like it

◼   ► when you work in a job with other people

◼   ► you kind of always have to be writing

◼   ► things down and coordinating to dues and

◼   ► having a road map because it's kind of

◼   ► possible to work with the people without

◼   ► having some degree of that and they're

◼   ► also usually like a well working place

◼   ► should usually be at least somewhat

◼   ► prepared for somebody leaving or

◼   ► quitting or getting fired at any time

◼   ► and some and other people being able to

◼   ► pick up their work where they left off

◼   ► and when you're when you're a solo

◼   ► developer like like us it's so easy to

◼   ► not have those kind of safeguards

◼   ► because you think you don't need them

◼   ► but when whenever you have to take any

◼   ► kind of a break or juggle multiple

◼   ► projects you really do need to think

◼   ► about those exact same strategies yeah I

◼   ► mean and I actually was bit by exactly

◼   ► that the last day or so where in this

◼   ► work that I've been doing on pedometer

◼   ► plus applies so I haven't worked on the

◼   ► app for probably since October I think

◼   ► so like two or three months and I sit

◼   ► down and I start using it I noticed

◼   ► something weird going on in my data

◼   ► system where a certainly iOS API call

◼   ► wasn't returning the values that I

◼   ► expected it to and as I started looking

◼   ► into this and this is really weird like

◼   ► it's a very one of these weird edge case

◼   ► bugs where if I give a certain value to

◼   ► healthkit API I get no data back but if

◼   ► I do a lots you know sort of other

◼   ► things it works fine which is really

◼   ► weird bug like man this is strange and I

◼   ► spent about a half a day working on this

◼   ► bug seeing if I can come you know find a

◼   ► workaround if I can avoid it in the end

◼   ► I found like I found no solution and I

◼   ► was like alright well I should probably

◼   ► use for file a file at radar about this

◼   ► just to make sure that Apple knows that

◼   ► this is a bug and I go open up bug

◼   ► report at AFRICOM you know go into my

◼   ► little account and one of the the top

◼   ► radars in there was me reporting this

◼   ► exact bug in August of last year which I

◼   ► was reporting it against like beta 2 or

◼   ► beta 3 in iOS 10 clearly I had

◼   ► completely forgotten that I'd done this

◼   ► exact process before but this is a great

◼   ► example though of this like I just

◼   ► wasted half a day trying to track this

◼   ► thing down that a few months ago I did

◼   ► exactly the same thing and I suppose

◼   ► it's it is such a tricky thing though to

◼   ► want to document in great detail all the

◼   ► varies these kinds of things because it

◼   ► is so easy to rely on your own memory

◼   ► and like I think in many ways I find

◼   ► really like one of the

◼   ► core skills of development is memory

◼   ► wear like I am at my most effective

◼   ► programming the more of an application I

◼   ► can sort of hold in my head at once

◼   ► where I know where all the features are

◼   ► I know how they all interconnect and

◼   ► having that kind of like loading that at

◼   ► loading all that information into my

◼   ► brain is like where it gets really

◼   ► efficient and helpful where I don't I'm

◼   ► not like sick constantly you know

◼   ► command effing all over the whole

◼   ► project trying to find the various

◼   ► things like I just know where they are

◼   ► but if you take a few months off and you

◼   ► come back to a project you can find

◼   ► yourself in these situations where like

◼   ► you just forgot that you've solved this

◼   ► problem or you've gone through the all

◼   ► of the work to determine that no

◼   ► solution exists and like in this case

◼   ► like what I really should have done when

◼   ► I could solve this the first time I ran

◼   ► into this problem the first time is I

◼   ► should have just had a little comment in

◼   ► my code that said you know this this API

◼   ► fails in this way you know radar filed

◼   ► here's the radar number you know for my

◼   ► own reference just so that you know it's

◼   ► like when I could this morning when I

◼   ► ran into this I could thank passed south

◼   ► you know pest Dave for going back there

◼   ► reporting this short-circuiting this

◼   ► whole thing and knowing that like okay

◼   ► yeah it's a bug is filed Apple hasn't

◼   ► fix it yet but you know I can move on

◼   ► and don't need to worry about it or at

◼   ► least I already did worried about it but

◼   ► that disciplined about that is I think

◼   ► really hard because yeah it doesn't feel

◼   ► like I think it's really difficult to

◼   ► judge how far into the future you're

◼   ► going to need to know where you are and

◼   ► on the flip side obviously you could

◼   ► take the other extreme and get really

◼   ► carried away and be documenting

◼   ► everything and all of your everything is

◼   ► like super detailed and you end up in

◼   ► like a proper like a formal like

◼   ► software model where you have like the

◼   ► requirements and you have the

◼   ► development and you have the testing

◼   ► documents and like you can go way

◼   ► overblown as well but there is

◼   ► definitely something that experiences

◼   ► like I had today definitely reinforces

◼   ► for me where like I need to be a little

◼   ► bit more and honestly it's probably the

◼   ► kind of thing where just being like 10%

◼   ► more descriptive in my gig commits in my

◼   ► comments would have a disproportionate

◼   ► impact in my ability to come back to

◼   ► work

◼   ► and to feel that I understand what's

◼   ► going on is it's almost like a like a

◼   ► hierarchy of caches you know it's like a

◼   ► terminology it's like you know we all

◼   ► know that you know as you said like when

◼   ► when you have a whole bunch of the

◼   ► program in your head you are way more

◼   ► effective that's what we refer to when

◼   ► we're talking about being in the zone

◼   ► and as programmers like it's basically

◼   ► having a whole bunch of the program in

◼   ► your head which is like the highest

◼   ► level cache like the l1 cache or the

◼   ► registers and then as as things like you

◼   ► know get evicted from either time or or

◼   ► crowdedness hey you have to start you

◼   ► know relying on other on other things to

◼   ► to keep the stuff in your head or to or

◼   ► to refer to other resources to get it

◼   ► back in your head and you know a quick

◼   ► little Doc comment in the code or good

◼   ► documentation of like the architecture

◼   ► of the code is way more effective at

◼   ► like when you when you have a cache miss

◼   ► in your brain and you have to go fetch

◼   ► it from this external resource that's

◼   ► way faster than like having to repeat

◼   ► eight hours of coding only to make the

◼   ► same mistakes over and over again only

◼   ► to discover the same eventual truth at

◼   ► the end that you could have discovered

◼   ► with what you know a quick little

◼   ► comment on in the code and it's in too

◼   ► many ways it reminds me of a some advice

◼   ► I remember hearing once about when

◼   ► you're like writing a little - duze for

◼   ► yourself like if you're capturing those

◼   ► kinds of thoughts of the importance of

◼   ► capturing complete thoughts not things

◼   ► that just would just make sense at the

◼   ► time you know so like if I record a

◼   ► little to do that says you know it's

◼   ► like table view height adjustment like

◼   ► at them at that moment I may know

◼   ► exactly what that means and it sounds

◼   ► completely silly to behive a show you

◼   ► feel like fully expanded out like table

◼   ► view height adjustment in stat screen of

◼   ► pedometer plus plus like that if I don't

◼   ► include all those other nouns I'm gonna

◼   ► come back to that later and be like what

◼   ► does this mean like it becomes just

◼   ► complete gibberish and garbage even

◼   ► though at the time it feels like

◼   ► completely unnecessary because I know I

◼   ► understand entirely the context and so

◼   ► the thing in the same way it's like when

◼   ► you're ready to do is it's important and

◼   ► then use in something similarly with you

◼   ► in your

◼   ► in your code or your internal

◼   ► documentation and I mean obviously we

◼   ► have the benefit though I will say of we

◼   ► just have to write things that make

◼   ► sense to us that we know ourselves

◼   ► better it's not like we're trying to

◼   ► write something that anybody with any

◼   ► level of sophistication or understanding

◼   ► would be of the project or of

◼   ► programming in general we'll be able to

◼   ► pick up like we know ourselves we know

◼   ► what you know like what short hands and

◼   ► what terms and things we can just use

◼   ► but I think it's very important to have

◼   ► that kind of perspective of like how can

◼   ► I be kind to my future self in my

◼   ► current self rather than just assuming

◼   ► that my future self will like kind of

◼   ► work it out oh yeah because like

◼   ► especially like you know as as the

◼   ► amount of time extends you know if

◼   ► you're writing something for your future

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

◼   ► different from your future self of four

◼   ► months from now or four years from now

◼   ► and as like I think it very quickly gets

◼   ► to a point that the this is this is not

◼   ► like a slow progression I think even

◼   ► after a few weeks or a few months of not

◼   ► working on something you approach it

◼   ► almost as if a stranger would approach

◼   ► it like you're your future self is way

◼   ► less familiar with what you're working

◼   ► on right now then your present self

◼   ► might realize and if you could if you

◼   ► can kind of get that into your head and

◼   ► internalize that and start remembering

◼   ► that as you're doing this kind of

◼   ► documentation or prep work or or

◼   ► anything like that

◼   ► you can really save your future self a

◼   ► lot of hassle because your future self

◼   ► is going to look at your current code

◼   ► and projects almost as if a stranger

◼   ► we're looking at them anyway or sponsor

◼   ► this week is somebody who never takes a

◼   ► break because they're a hosting company

◼   ► and you want your hosting company to

◼   ► never take breaks

◼   ► it's Linode Linode gives you fast

◼   ► powerful hosting for your projects that

◼   ► you can set up in just seconds they ve

◼   ► to understand tools to let you choose

◼   ► your resource levels and Linux distros

◼   ► giving the power and flexibility you

◼   ► need and little plans start at just $10

◼   ► a month for a two gigabyte RAM Linux

◼   ► server in the Linode cloud Linode I mean

◼   ► this is the best stuff I've ever used in

◼   ► the web hosting world and tell you I'm

◼   ► telling you I've used a lot between all

◼   ► the different things I've worked on I've

◼   ► used a lot of web hosting I've used

◼   ► literally hundreds of servers in web

◼   ► hosting

◼   ► and Linode is by far by far my favorite

◼   ► and now I think almost everything I have

◼   ► is there now and the only things that

◼   ► aren't there are things I just haven't

◼   ► gotten or it's moving there yet because

◼   ► you know moving things as a pain but if

◼   ► you're looking for a new host or if

◼   ► you're willing to go through the hassle

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

◼   ► you you're not gonna be sorry with

◼   ► Linode it is amazing the control panel

◼   ► is great their performance per dollar is

◼   ► I think unmatched in the industry highly

◼   ► highly recommended anyway it's never

◼   ► been easier to launch a little cloud

◼   ► server they offer the fastest hardware

◼   ► and network with fantastic customer

◼   ► support behind it all if you need it

◼   ► even on the holidays even on Christmas

◼   ► Day New Year's Day they are working they

◼   ► are there little guarantees 99.9% uptime

◼   ► for server ability once your server is

◼   ► up they intend to keep it that way and

◼   ► let you know this is great for things

◼   ► like running your own private get

◼   ► servers hosting a large database running

◼   ► a mail servers hosting the entire web

◼   ► app like David and I do and so much more

◼   ► so as listener of this show if you sign

◼   ► up at lynda.com slash radar you'll not

◼   ► only be supporting us but you also got

◼   ► $20 towards any Linode plan and with a 7

◼   ► day money back guarantee there's nothing

◼   ► to lose so go to Linode comm slash radar

◼   ► to learn more sign up and take advantage

◼   ► about $20 credit or use the promo code

◼   ► radar 2017 that's of radar 2017 at

◼   ► checkout thank you so much to Linode for

◼   ► supporting this show so I think it's

◼   ► also probably fair and now that we've

◼   ► kind of come back into our work to

◼   ► discuss and work through a little bit of

◼   ► what makes sense to plan out for the

◼   ► first part of the year because maybe we

◼   ► talked about it before with like iOS

◼   ► development has a schedule and a cadence

◼   ► kind of dictated to it's somewhat

◼   ► externally we're you know starting

◼   ► around June 1st or so you know we get

◼   ► into the new stuff cycle we're from June

◼   ► until about September we'll have new iOS

◼   ► betas new devices new what Evers that

◼   ► are going to be announced the fall is

◼   ► the kind of fall out from that period

◼   ► where we start to you know all these

◼   ► things actually go out into the wild and

◼   ► they get to see how that you get used in

◼   ► practice and then we kind of get into

◼   ► this next phase which i think is in some

◼   ► ways my most enjoyable part of this

◼   ► go where you know from roughly now

◼   ► you've gotten through Christmas and New

◼   ► Year's so from now until June we have

◼   ► about six months to just work on

◼   ► whatever we want in a lot of ways and I

◼   ► tend to like this time of year for

◼   ► polishing doing a lot of like point one

◼   ► point two releases working on a lot of

◼   ► things that you know didn't make sense

◼   ► to try and squeeze in with a major iOS

◼   ► update the things like that where I can

◼   ► sit down and I can spend you know it's

◼   ► you know a significant amount of time

◼   ► without quite the same time pressure as

◼   ► I would if I was doing it over the

◼   ► summer or in the fall you know where now

◼   ► I can kind of if I take stupid ends up

◼   ► taking an extra couple weeks it's fine

◼   ► there's no there's no external

◼   ► constraints or things that I'm trying to

◼   ► fight around and so I tend to look at it

◼   ► and that's kind of like my planning

◼   ► right now for all of my apps you know

◼   ► it's like I century I'm just gonna be

◼   ► sitting there making out these kind of

◼   ► big point releases for all my apps do

◼   ► you know I have taken these kind of nice

◼   ► features that I think are value-adds

◼   ► and honestly even a lot of what ends up

◼   ► happening with me is I as I have so many

◼   ► apps but they're all kind of related you

◼   ► know all my plus plus apps are health

◼   ► and fitness

◼   ► oriented and so what I've started what

◼   ► I've started to do too is I'll end up

◼   ► doing something in one of them that I

◼   ► feel like will make sense to kind of

◼   ► incorporate back into the other ones and

◼   ► so I expect to be doing a lot of that

◼   ► this sure if I guess what we're gonna

◼   ► call this period like in the new year

◼   ► / - through the spring where I can go

◼   ► through and kind of just get everything

◼   ► in a nice solid robust kind of like

◼   ► making these features a little bit

◼   ► deeper like maybe that's right I could

◼   ► way to think of it - like in this summer

◼   ► and in the summer and fall I tend to

◼   ► think of it as kind of widening the apps

◼   ► making them incorporate these new

◼   ► features incorporating these new

◼   ► platforms whatever makes sense and then

◼   ► you know sort of the first half of the

◼   ► year is more about taking those things

◼   ► and kind of digging them deeper and

◼   ► adding at all those little touches that

◼   ► make the app that richer that you didn't

◼   ► quite I wasn't quite a didn't quite have

◼   ► time to do in the first place yeah

◼   ► because you know the fall is you know we

◼   ► spend so much of the fall just and the

◼   ► summer even just like

◼   ► adapting new things or adopting new

◼   ► things and keeping up with all that

◼   ► bells new stuff and you know from from

◼   ► January through June apples pretty quiet

◼   ► usually and so yeah we it's it's a great

◼   ► time you know as you said like to work

◼   ► on you know quality to broaden your

◼   ► feature base I would say it's a great

◼   ► time to address things like user

◼   ► requests like feature feature requests

◼   ► from people they're very common like

◼   ► because you don't have anything else for

◼   ► the most part competing with this time

◼   ► most of the rest of the year you have

◼   ► like external pressure of things you

◼   ► need to be keeping up with or doing or

◼   ► planning for right now

◼   ► this part of the year is basically like

◼   ► work on the core make the app better

◼   ► make your stuff better try you know if

◼   ► you want to start experimenting with

◼   ► with brand new features or start

◼   ► planning what your next big release

◼   ► might be this is a good time for that of

◼   ► course I'm following on this advice

◼   ► myself I'm actually of course preparing

◼   ► to launch my 3.0 now but that's not

◼   ► because it was planned this way it's

◼   ► because it took too long was a long shit

◼   ► in the fall and I just didn't but but

◼   ► you know this is and honestly this is

◼   ► not a bad time to release a big point

◼   ► your a big point o update because

◼   ► there's not a lot else going on and

◼   ► there there is some concern there that

◼   ► you know you need to be aware of things

◼   ► like the PR seasons and calendar and

◼   ► advertising and everything everything

◼   ► like that one of the good things is that

◼   ► well a good thing if you're if you're

◼   ► looking to buy ads or you know things

◼   ► like a store search ads you know or ads

◼   ► on people's podcasts or ads on websites

◼   ► or whatever else Facebook ads usually ad

◼   ► inventory is is pretty low in January

◼   ► and February and this is a terrible

◼   ► thing if you make your money via ads as

◼   ► you taught me and you were right that

◼   ► basically your ad revenue tends to drop

◼   ► pretty sharply in you know in the first

◼   ► few days of January compared to the year

◼   ► before and you know compared to the week

◼   ► before even like in December and and

◼   ► sometimes it takes like big corporate ad

◼   ► budgets a little while to get organized

◼   ► and start buying things for the new year

◼   ► and so if you are an indie making money

◼   ► via ads you know I think it's important

◼   ► not to freak out too much about that

◼   ► because it's temporary and if you are

◼   ► buying ads

◼   ► this is kind of an awesome time to buy

◼   ► hats if you're indie because you don't

◼   ► have to work on the annual corporate

◼   ► budget and get approval from a bunch of

◼   ► in departments you can just buy the ads

◼   ► right now and so you actually might be

◼   ► able to get a pretty pretty good deal on

◼   ► an inventory where things are a little

◼   ► bit cheaper than they normally would be

◼   ► so this is that's also worth considering

◼   ► but for the most part I think you mainly

◼   ► have to have to be aware of like you

◼   ► know not releasing things too close to a

◼   ► holiday or a slow time or a slow weekend

◼   ► but I think we're mostly past that now

◼   ► you know as we talk about those it's a

◼   ► January 4th probably coming out on the

◼   ► 5th so you know we're past New Year's

◼   ► Day and and like the day or two after I

◼   ► think pretty much any time now

◼   ► from now forward is ok to release things

◼   ► without too much trouble yeah and it's

◼   ► just a good like in some ways I it's a

◼   ► good is just a good time to get back to

◼   ► work like in a good way like I always

◼   ► find that the the fall just feels just

◼   ► so disjointed for me like it's really

◼   ► hard to really get stuck into things

◼   ► because there's just so many things

◼   ► going on yes certainly both

◼   ► professionally as well as personally

◼   ► that I kind of like the thought of like

◼   ► nothing's really gonna happen for the

◼   ► next couple of months and so getting

◼   ► into a normal rhythm getting into about

◼   ► in you know kind of starting some new

◼   ► habits not necessarily like you know

◼   ► like have New Year's resolutions

◼   ► perspective or just by benefit of there

◼   ► not being things that are going to be

◼   ► messing with your schedule you know it's

◼   ► kind of a nice time to be able to to

◼   ► look at that and to hopefully like I

◼   ► really enjoyed this process of sitting

◼   ► down and eating like what do I want to

◼   ► work on you know what what is actually

◼   ► going to be an interesting thing to

◼   ► build when I'm listing or what about

◼   ► would I enjoy in that and so it's a good

◼   ► time to be thoughtful about that and to

◼   ► kind of think that you know what is

◼   ► something that's maybe like the level of

◼   ► difficulty might be a little higher you

◼   ► know this is a good time to maybe to try

◼   ► and fail it's true you try something

◼   ► that's a bit risky that might work out

◼   ► like it's a better time to do that now

◼   ► then you know later in the year or when

◼   ► things are a bit more high pressure you

◼   ► know like though I've I think we're

◼   ► three Christmases ago back when the

◼   ► Christmas bump was just drew

◼   ► like I remember never late isn't the

◼   ► AppStore I would you know the Christmas

◼   ► stay and the day after Christmas were

◼   ► something like 8% 10% of my yearly

◼   ► revenue like he was huge and dramatic oh

◼   ► yeah

◼   ► thankfully that's kind of settled down a

◼   ► bit like I was as cool as it was to make

◼   ► that much money like was it bit

◼   ► terrifying because I remember a couple

◼   ► years ago I had a bug in my main app

◼   ► that I released like I think about five

◼   ► six days before Christmas I hate it and

◼   ► it turned out the bug like the app works

◼   ► completely fine except for all of the

◼   ► in-app purchase didn't only have

◼   ► purchases didn't work it worked fine so

◼   ► I couldn't make any money exactly so

◼   ► that was a bit terrifying and I you know

◼   ► did the book it was one of these like

◼   ► trivial things there's a bit of debug

◼   ► logic that I had to flip over and then

◼   ► you know resubmitted to Apple did the

◼   ► expedited request and in the end it was

◼   ► fine like the app was you know working

◼   ► in a functional way on Christmas Day

◼   ► which was super important but I loved

◼   ► that one who sort of sort of passed some

◼   ► of these things where you have that high

◼   ► stakes that high stress that if that app

◼   ► had been broken on Christmas day it

◼   ► would have had a dramatic impact and so

◼   ► I in love this kind of time of the year

◼   ► where if something gets if something

◼   ► gets busted if something gets broken

◼   ► like the stakes are much lower like it's

◼   ► still impactful it's not like that I

◼   ► want to just be cavalier about things

◼   ► but it's nice to kind of have that

◼   ► pressure taken off a little bit and to

◼   ► be able to kind of really dive into some

◼   ► bigger projects in that way oh yeah I

◼   ► mean and you said earlier main it like

◼   ► about how this is such a great work time

◼   ► because like there's no interruptions

◼   ► like I love this time of year I mean I

◼   ► hate winter in general because I can't

◼   ► go outside because the outside world is

◼   ► just just hates me but I'm a huge fan of

◼   ► the amount of work I can get done during

◼   ► this time because yeah there's no

◼   ► holidays there's no well there's fear a

◼   ► few holidays there there's no like

◼   ► family needs really it's just a solid

◼   ► like couple of months really where

◼   ► there's nothing else to do but work and

◼   ► I kind of like it so anyway thank you

◼   ► everybody for listening good luck

◼   ► getting back to work yourselves and

◼   ► we'll talk to you next week bye