Under the Radar

◼   ► welcome to under the radar a show about

◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm

◼   ► Marco Arment mm David Smith under the

◼   ► radar is never longer than 30 minutes so

◼   ► let's get started so today we wanted to

◼   ► talk about kind of what we're calling

◼   ► the calm before the storm

◼   ► basically what to do and what to work on

◼   ► and what not to work on in the few

◼   ► months leading up to WB DC because the

◼   ► idea here is you know as iOS developers

◼   ► or Mac developers know if any of you are

◼   ► listening WDC usually includes some kind

◼   ► of major changes especially for iOS you

◼   ► know some kind of major API changes

◼   ► possibly design changes possibly

◼   ► business or marketing changes so there's

◼   ► always there's always a lot to do in

◼   ► response to what's announced at WTC for

◼   ► the fall and so the question is like you

◼   ► know what you know right now as we

◼   ► record this it's late April and you know

◼   ► everybody sees in mid June so it's it's

◼   ► close enough that like you don't

◼   ► necessarily want to get started on some

◼   ► kind of big project now right before WTC

◼   ► or months before the video you see and

◼   ► so the question is kind of like what do

◼   ► you do in this quiet time so David what

◼   ► do you do usually so I just got finished

◼   ► with activity post applause which was

◼   ► like my last probably the last new app

◼   ► that I launched before WTC and it was

◼   ► only launched when it was because 9.3

◼   ► was new had this new API this new

◼   ► capability like otherwise this time of

◼   ► year tends to be a sort of a cleanup

◼   ► phase like I wasn't seen about this in

◼   ► preparation for the show of kind of what

◼   ► my normal year looks like which is

◼   ► probably a good place to start in some

◼   ► ways we're so in many ways like my

◼   ► development

◼   ► year starts at WWDC on whatever Monday

◼   ► that is like this year it's like June

◼   ► 13th is essentially like the new like

◼   ► developer New Year's where at that point

◼   ► we will sort of have the roadmap of what

◼   ► to come what's coming what to expect

◼   ► what's going to be important for the

◼   ► next for the next year until the next

◼   ► WWDC

◼   ► and like really new years we also might

◼   ► have a hangover at

◼   ► that's it's it's true he is from there

◼   ► we have a few months of time until

◼   ► whatever is announced WC actually gets

◼   ► released

◼   ► so typically recently this has been in

◼   ► June everything's announced in September

◼   ► ish late late September early October

◼   ► somewhere on there whenever the new

◼   ► iPhones come out typically is the sort

◼   ► of the window we have to before from

◼   ► when the new stuff is announced to when

◼   ► the new stuff is available so it's

◼   ► usually a pretty busy time for most

◼   ► developers because especially if it's

◼   ► like a big sweeping change you know it's

◼   ► like I think iOS 7 where it's like okay

◼   ► all if this new UI stuff needs to be

◼   ► done or those types of changes or it's

◼   ► like with the watch this like here's an

◼   ► watch OS 2 it's going to be coming out

◼   ► you have these bay this this very busy

◼   ► period essentially over the summer and

◼   ► then you get all that out then you are

◼   ► at least conceptually for me my goal is

◼   ► then to get everything nice and tidy for

◼   ► the holidays you know so I want to be

◼   ► like it's not as pronounced of a bump as

◼   ► it used to be but around you know around

◼   ► Christmas there's usually a nice solid

◼   ► bump in app downloads and sales and

◼   ► things because there's just a lot of

◼   ► people getting new devices and you know

◼   ► people getting new devices seem to be

◼   ► more apt to go and download things so

◼   ► you get you want to be sort of after the

◼   ► summer sort of intense phase you have

◼   ► this cleanup phase sort of running

◼   ► through Christmas and then the early

◼   ► part of the year when I tend just to

◼   ► kind of look at it as it's like it's a

◼   ► good opportunity for doing like point

◼   ► releases like do we doing these kinds of

◼   ► big updates but not like massive change

◼   ► you know and not like new apps tepa

◼   ► typically it's more just these big

◼   ► changes right and then you get into this

◼   ► period right around now where I don't

◼   ► want to tackle anything that I don't

◼   ► think I'm going to finish by June and I

◼   ► don't want to really like make new new

◼   ► praten like new small things because

◼   ► they may just become you know worthless

◼   ► or or kind of you know deprecated or all

◼   ► these types of things in June and so

◼   ► right now it tends to be more kind of a

◼   ► cleanup phase for me so I look

◼   ► kind of the process I'm going through

◼   ► right now as I look through my apps

◼   ► which of which there are many and I will

◼   ► kind of see like what are the little

◼   ► niggling things that I can do and things

◼   ► that have been on my to-do list for a

◼   ► while that I you know overall would make

◼   ► the apps better and these tend to be

◼   ► updates that are more quality of life

◼   ► updates you know things that are just

◼   ► like making the app easier to use or

◼   ► better or more stable that kind of thing

◼   ► rather than like I'm gonna implement

◼   ► this whole new you know radical approach

◼   ► to something it's like these are things

◼   ► that a lot of them the users won't see

◼   ► directly or if they do they'll just

◼   ► notice them and things are better rather

◼   ► than like totally different but for me

◼   ► that's kind of this cycle and what a

◼   ► year looks like and so now is this kind

◼   ► of fun place where you know I get to

◼   ► it's a bit more experimental like I'm

◼   ► just going in and doing lots of

◼   ► tinkering which is kind of nice I guess

◼   ► and it's like nice to kind of to also

◼   ► rest a bit before the crazy sprint

◼   ► vergis marathon that is June to

◼   ► September oh yeah I mean I I'm in pretty

◼   ► much complete agreement with everything

◼   ► you just said in fact you guys cover

◼   ► basically my entire outline for this

◼   ► episode in four minutes

◼   ► all right but yeah basically like you

◼   ► know this this is a great time you know

◼   ► as you just mentioned for anything any

◼   ► kind of like administrative tasks like

◼   ► you clean up especially clean up that is

◼   ► not like the code of your app

◼   ► necessarily you know administration

◼   ► stuff changing like updating your

◼   ► website or your marketing structure you

◼   ► know some kind like that if you want to

◼   ► like make you know make a better side or

◼   ► play with certain kinds of advertising

◼   ► or whatever else like this is a decent

◼   ► time to do that kind of stuff and as you

◼   ► said it's also a really good time to

◼   ► take vacations or to spend time with

◼   ► hobbies or with family or whatever else

◼   ► because a lot of people take vacations

◼   ► stuff in the summer time but you know as

◼   ► we'd because of the schedule that we are

◼   ► on a lot of time developers can't take

◼   ► vacation or shouldn't take vacation in

◼   ► summer time because some are so busy for

◼   ► us tackling all the stuff that's gonna

◼   ► be in the new version of iOS and so this

◼   ► is a great time for all that I mean

◼   ► mainly the main thing is what you what

◼   ► you don't want to be doing during this

◼   ► time ideally unless you really have to

◼   ► but if you ideally you don't want to be

◼   ► cackling major updates to existing apps

◼   ► it's not a terrible time to write new

◼   ► apps which we'll get to you know to do

◼   ► with given certain parameters but this

◼   ► is a this is not a great time to do

◼   ► major updates to existing apps because

◼   ► in June when when we get that WBC Happy

◼   ► New Year Monday and we start and you

◼   ► know we see the state of the unions and

◼   ► we start seeing some of the new api's

◼   ► what we usually find is that the new API

◼   ► is that are that are released in June to

◼   ► developers and mobile to be released in

◼   ► the fall to customers usually they will

◼   ► make our jobs easier in some big ways in

◼   ► our code and even if even if they wanted

◼   ► to make our jobs easier they will at

◼   ► least make our jobs different and so

◼   ► there's a any any amount of code that

◼   ► you write in the months before WDC it's

◼   ► kind of a liability that you might need

◼   ► that everything you're writing now you

◼   ► might need to adapt or rewrite in a few

◼   ► months you know and only and it's that

◼   ► there's always liability that when

◼   ► you're writing code but here the

◼   ► timeline is so close that it's kind of

◼   ► non-ideal if you can avoid writing tons

◼   ► of new code or tons of adjustments to

◼   ► your app now that's good this is

◼   ► especially true at least it used to be

◼   ► especially true if you're writing

◼   ► Swift's and Swift is still so young and

◼   ► changes so much although at least now

◼   ► with the open-source roadmap that that

◼   ► should eliminate most of these surprises

◼   ► that are coming with Swift and it's

◼   ► getting more mature but you know in

◼   ► general the ground will shift in June so

◼   ► you don't want to build a whole bunch of

◼   ► new code on top of the old ground until

◼   ► you know what the shift will be and then

◼   ► you know maybe you can start taking a

◼   ► vanishing api's and it used to be the

◼   ► case that a lot of developers really

◼   ► couldn't take advantage of the new API

◼   ► yet because they just they had to

◼   ► support older versions of iOS I think

◼   ► over time that that need has has

◼   ► diminished somewhat is certainly not

◼   ► gone and certainly there are a lot of

◼   ► people who still need to support old

◼   ► versions of iOS and if you do then

◼   ► they're for like you know the some of

◼   ► the some of the ground shifting stuff

◼   ► might not apply to you yet but I think

◼   ► most severely especially most indie

◼   ► developers now can get away with

◼   ► supporting just the current version of

◼   ► iOS and the vast majority of their

◼   ► customers in most cases are

◼   ► okay with that because adoption rates

◼   ► are so good these days so really you

◼   ► want to avoid being incompatible or

◼   ► causing more work for yourself for the

◼   ► new stuff coming in the fall and this

◼   ► applies not only to code but also to

◼   ► design marketing business because you

◼   ► know design wise like there's obviously

◼   ► there might be design changes to iOS

◼   ► there you know there's been rumors of

◼   ► like you know more things related to

◼   ► true tone and nightshift so maybe like a

◼   ► system-wide dark mode or something like

◼   ► that you got to consider that there

◼   ► might be designed tweaks to the built-in

◼   ► widgets or to just the conventions there

◼   ► might be new new styles that are you

◼   ► know new navigation controller

◼   ► structures like a split view kind of

◼   ► thing like you know new stuff like that

◼   ► that might come out that might become

◼   ► like a new standard thing that people

◼   ► expect or want in the next version of

◼   ► iOS so it is not like right now is not a

◼   ► good time to redesign your UI because

◼   ► you don't know what those changes will

◼   ► be yet also marketing wise you know

◼   ► there's there's considerations of like

◼   ► do you want to do any kind of small or

◼   ► medium sized releases now and then also

◼   ► do like another medium size release in

◼   ► the fall or do you want to cluster them

◼   ► together and just wait you know hold the

◼   ► stuff back now and then in the fall do a

◼   ► bigger release and of course there's

◼   ► pluses and minuses to that as well it

◼   ► was obviously more competition in the

◼   ► fall but there's also more people

◼   ► looking and there's chances to be

◼   ► featured and we'll probably cover that

◼   ► at a later date but also just it's worth

◼   ► considering that any any assumptions you

◼   ► make now about the business of selling

◼   ► your app however you're making money

◼   ► whatever your structure is for

◼   ► collecting money from people or not

◼   ► whether you're doing ads whether you're

◼   ► doing upgrade payments whatever you're

◼   ► doing the business model that you have

◼   ► now might need to change once we learn

◼   ► what we're going to learn in June you

◼   ► know so as you learned David like I add

◼   ► is showing down so like if you were if

◼   ► you were depending on I add a couple

◼   ► months ago well now you have work to do

◼   ► in June there might be other changes

◼   ► announced there might be changes to the

◼   ► App Store there might be new policies or

◼   ► maybe what you're doing now won't be

◼   ► allowed anymore or maybe it won't work

◼   ► as well anymore

◼   ► and maybe there will be new things that

◼   ► we can do new business models that

◼   ► become available or possible or more

◼   ► practical than they used to be

◼   ► so this is all just a way to say like

◼   ► you should generally try to avoid any

◼   ► kind of major changes to existing apps

◼   ► during this time period because you

◼   ► might have to change it all again in two

◼   ► months yeah and I think there's in

◼   ► general it's like a lot of this speaks

◼   ► to a more fundamental thing that I know

◼   ► is important it like an important thing

◼   ► for me to learn in sort of the

◼   ► discipline of of app creation was the

◼   ► rather than just as it's so easy to do

◼   ► like just keep barreling ahead on like

◼   ► opening up Xcode every morning and just

◼   ► getting in there and writing the codes

◼   ► and whatever you think of building is

◼   ► trying to instead make sure that you're

◼   ► being thoughtful about it and like being

◼   ► somewhat disciplined about it because

◼   ► when I think about these types of like

◼   ► considerations for getting ready for

◼   ► June is a lot of what I'm trying to do

◼   ► is make sure that I'm setting myself up

◼   ► so that on June 14th I am ready to dive

◼   ► head headlong into whatever is announced

◼   ► and I may or may not like maybe what

◼   ► they announce isn't really relevant to

◼   ► me or my app or maybe it's just not that

◼   ► interesting whatever it is but what I

◼   ► want is to make sure that I'm ready to

◼   ► do that and like I'm poised and capable

◼   ► of doing that like oh but I don't want

◼   ► to do is to just like have been

◼   ► barreling along doing something that's

◼   ► like creating all of these sort of

◼   ► responsibilities or commitments debt

◼   ► that I'm gonna then have to be

◼   ► responsible for in June July and August

◼   ► like that's where it would become very

◼   ► problematic and so I need to think about

◼   ► it I like look you know it's a struggle

◼   ► I know for myself that when I used to

◼   ► work in a more corporate environment

◼   ► there was a certain amount of structure

◼   ► imposed on me by like having a manager

◼   ► and my manager having a manager and so

◼   ► on and we'd have to go through things

◼   ► like sprint planning only work out what

◼   ► are we going to work on for the next two

◼   ► weeks and go through all these exercises

◼   ► that in a corporate environment are kind

◼   ► of just the way you manage larger teams

◼   ► but when you're working for yourself or

◼   ► with a very small team that discipline

◼   ► has to come from yourself and so you

◼   ► have to look at these things and say

◼   ► well like I would love to add this

◼   ► feature to this app or I'd love to

◼   ► implement this new thing

◼   ► or do you know whatever it whatever that

◼   ► activity is you want to do there's a

◼   ► certain amount of actually having to

◼   ► look at it and say there's I think 44

◼   ► days till WDC like can I get this done

◼   ► and then and if I do is that gonna set

◼   ► me up to be free and available

◼   ► afterwards or is it the kind of thing

◼   ► that's like this is this big

◼   ► experimental thing that I'm working on

◼   ► that I'm gonna release and I'm gonna

◼   ► expect to have to do a ton of customer

◼   ► support or management of it or like I'm

◼   ► creating this thing that's gonna then

◼   ► require a lot of my time down the road

◼   ► like those types of considerations you

◼   ► have well the only person who's going to

◼   ► be doing those is like me I can't rely

◼   ► on someone else to come in and say this

◼   ► is what you need to work on for the next

◼   ► month in the run up and so I have to do

◼   ► to have that discipline myself to look

◼   ► at it and say yeah I think I can get

◼   ► this done like the things that I'm

◼   ► working on myself are these sort of

◼   ► small improvements to all my apps that I

◼   ► kind of had these lists of things and

◼   ► they're just like these small

◼   ► improvements most of them are probably

◼   ► like a week's worth of work and oh and

◼   ► that all of them are things that I think

◼   ► won't require maintenance in June or you

◼   ► know sort of a follow up they're very

◼   ► self-contained and neat and tidy and

◼   ► that's by choice and intention you know

◼   ► I'm not really the kind of person I know

◼   ► it's like I have a Gantt chart like this

◼   ► big organizational thing that I'm like

◼   ► okay well I'll do this and this and you

◼   ► know this task is dependent on this task

◼   ► and so you'd like that's not what I'm

◼   ► saying and I don't know some people love

◼   ► Gantt charts that's they don't really

◼   ► work for me in the way I had to think

◼   ► about things but I mean that kind of

◼   ► discipline of thinking about it

◼   ► consciously and saying like am i

◼   ► realistically going to be done with all

◼   ► these things so that I'm poised and

◼   ► ready when the new stuff and the new

◼   ► opportunities appear because ultimately

◼   ► that's all this all this comes down to

◼   ► is like there's going to be new

◼   ► opportunities because they'll be change

◼   ► am I going to be in a position to set

◼   ► myself up to take advantage of those

◼   ► opportunities

◼   ► cuz like that's most of what like being

◼   ► lucky in a lot of these types of you

◼   ► know every nough is where you look at

◼   ► subjects like ah man you know it's like

◼   ► they really lucked out and that's why

◼   ► their business is a success it's like

◼   ► maybe or or they were just ready and

◼   ► prepared for when the opportunity

◼   ► presented itself that they could dive in

◼   ► had the head first it's probably more

◼   ► that usually some of both

◼   ► a little bit of both but you can't do if

◼   ► you don't know if though if you don't

◼   ► have the one the other ones not gonna

◼   ► really matter nearly as much that's true

◼   ► alright so we are sponsored this week

◼   ► once again by our friends at Pingdom you

◼   ► can start monitoring your websites and

◼   ► servers today at Pingdom comm with a

◼   ► free 14-day trial when you enter offer

◼   ► code radar at checkout you get 20% off

◼   ► your first invoice now Pingdom is a web

◼   ► monitoring service and I have I said

◼   ► last time that I've been using Pingdom

◼   ► for a long time a very long time today I

◼   ► actually looked up how long exactly it

◼   ► was that I used that we use Pingdom and

◼   ► and so I looked I found the very first

◼   ► email I got from David Carr but we were

◼   ► both making tumblr from April 2nd 2007

◼   ► and he says I think I'm going to sign us

◼   ► up for this and then message body

◼   ► penguin comm and sure enough he did sign

◼   ► up for it and so that we've been using

◼   ► Pingdom first me and me and that David

◼   ► now me and this David

◼   ► we've been using picked them for a very

◼   ► long time I've been using it personally

◼   ► since spring of 2007 so for nine years

◼   ► now and Pingdom is great for monitoring

◼   ► your web sites and web services anything

◼   ► you can monitor through a basic HTTP

◼   ► access of some kind Pingdom can monitor

◼   ► that and so this is useful for of course

◼   ► making sure your website is up making

◼   ► sure your service is up you can also do

◼   ► things like monitor for changes so you

◼   ► can do things like monitor somebody

◼   ► else's website like we mentioned last

◼   ► time you can would monitor the WWDC

◼   ► website to see when WTC was announced

◼   ► each year and that which mattered a lot

◼   ► especially back when it was like

◼   ► first-come first-serve for tickets and

◼   ► so you can monitor any site you want for

◼   ► changes you can monitor your own sites

◼   ► for uptime and you can also monitor any

◼   ► anything that you can represent by like

◼   ► a kind of a binary like good or bad

◼   ► status so for instance if you have some

◼   ► kind of health page or health check for

◼   ► your apps your your services you can

◼   ► have the health check returned a

◼   ► different string and then you can have

◼   ► Pingdom search for that string on the

◼   ► page so that when things are not just

◼   ► debt you know not even down but when

◼   ► things are just not I

◼   ► deal like one of your servers is running

◼   ► low on disk space or something like that

◼   ► you can be alerted of that with a

◼   ► separate check and you can have

◼   ► different alert levels you can say or I

◼   ► will if a servers load is spaced email

◼   ► me about that but I don't need to be

◼   ► like texted or notified with tons of

◼   ► alarms about that but if the whole

◼   ► website is down set everything on fire

◼   ► and let me know like don't do whatever

◼   ► it takes to notify me that the website

◼   ► is down and there's so many

◼   ► customization options with Pingdom it's

◼   ► a great service they they're widely used

◼   ► now they say they detect around 13

◼   ► million outages every month because over

◼   ► 400,000 outages every day so you can

◼   ► really do a lot with Pingdom and a lot

◼   ► of people do and I've been doing it

◼   ► myself for nine years now so check it

◼   ► out Pingdom comm you need to be the

◼   ► first one to know when your website or

◼   ► service is down not everybody else so

◼   ► you need to know first go to Pingdom

◼   ► calm for a 14-day free trial and 20% off

◼   ► when you enter the offer code radar at

◼   ► checkout thank you very much to Pingdom

◼   ► for sponsoring our show once again so I

◼   ► wanted to talk a little bit about you

◼   ► know I think we both kind of agreed that

◼   ► this is a good time for cleanup and

◼   ► minor improvements of our apps I want to

◼   ► go a little bit more into what that is

◼   ► what that means I've been doing a lot of

◼   ► this myself with overcast recently in

◼   ► the last couple of months I've

◼   ► integrated analytics I've integrated

◼   ► what used to be called crashlytics and

◼   ► is now called fabric located on my

◼   ► Twitter that whole thing integrated

◼   ► analytics and crash reporting more

◼   ► deeply into the app before I was just I

◼   ► was for a while using haki then I was

◼   ► using Apple's built-in stuff and now

◼   ► found fabric to be a good combo for me

◼   ► and the main reason why is that I really

◼   ► wanted to take this time to improve

◼   ► quality and so this is a great time to

◼   ► you know minimize crashes to go through

◼   ► and fix like little bugs like that just

◼   ► little little bugs little annoyances to

◼   ► your users anything that causes crashing

◼   ► or failures this is a great time to do

◼   ► that because like that's the kind of

◼   ► stuff that generally like whatever is

◼   ► announced that everybody you see is

◼   ► probably not going to effect that kind

◼   ► of code it's also a good time to pay off

◼   ► any kind of low-level technical debt as

◼   ► long as it's not a ton of work and you

◼   ► know will cost tons of bugs but any kind

◼   ► of like you know if you have a technical

◼   ► debt like in your in your sink or data

◼   ► layers this is a good time to pay that

◼   ► if you can and and to do like minor

◼   ► feature experimentation like if you want

◼   ► to tweak like small changes to the app

◼   ► not any kind of big overreaching change

◼   ► or redesign but if you just want to

◼   ► tweak small changes this is a good time

◼   ► to do that as well it's also a good time

◼   ► to solicit or investigate customer

◼   ► feedback about what kinds of things you

◼   ► want to be doing this summer so ask your

◼   ► existing customers or look at your

◼   ► analytics or implement analytics of some

◼   ► kind don't be creepy but implement some

◼   ► kind of analytics to to say like you

◼   ► know what should I be thinking about

◼   ► this summer when all this stuff is

◼   ► announced what should I have in my

◼   ► roadmap feature wise for my app what are

◼   ► what are my customers really asking for

◼   ► how is the app actually being used and

◼   ► not being used this is a great time for

◼   ► all that stuff it basically everything

◼   ► that isn't massive code design or

◼   ► business changes this is a great time

◼   ► for all those things and so me

◼   ► personally I have as I mentioned

◼   ► integrated crashlytics and fabric and

◼   ► and analytics there and so I've taken

◼   ► this time to drop my crash rate to

◼   ► nearly zero and through the combination

◼   ► of the last few versions plus the

◼   ► version that I just submitted this

◼   ► morning just a whole bunch of minor

◼   ► updates focused on getting the crashes

◼   ► reduced as low as I possibly can just

◼   ► trying to eliminate like crashlytics

◼   ► tells you like a crash free users

◼   ► percentage because kind of cool it's

◼   ► kind of cool metric and it used to be

◼   ► like 99 point something low now at 99.9

◼   ► and the new version I have in review now

◼   ► should raise that even higher it's just

◼   ► a very satisfying like kind of technical

◼   ► debt payoff period I'm going through

◼   ► here we're just like let me just fix as

◼   ► much as I possibly can that that I can

◼   ► fit in this time span and then it's also

◼   ► it's a great time to do any kind of

◼   ► experimentation with other things that

◼   ► are not your app that are not like the

◼   ► code of your app so you know I mentioned

◼   ► experimental you know small features or

◼   ► small changes but this is actually a

◼   ► great time to step away from your iOS

◼   ► apps and to look at other kinds of

◼   ► larger kinds of experimentation so

◼   ► things like learning a new language

◼   ► learning a new API is just learning

◼   ► something new that will probably not

◼   ► change dramatically in June so you know

◼   ► other languages

◼   ► non-apple platforms things like that and

◼   ► also just making new apps on different

◼   ► platforms so if you if you want if

◼   ► you've wanted for a long time to make an

◼   ► android app or a web app maybe arguably

◼   ► even a Mac app which I'm kind of

◼   ► implying with a little bit because the

◼   ► Mac doesn't change that much usually WC

◼   ► so maybe a Mac app would also qualify

◼   ► here but any kind of app on different

◼   ► platforms this is a great time to

◼   ► experiment with that because that's

◼   ► probably not gonna change much in June

◼   ► doesn't really matter and you kind of

◼   ► have to like save your iOS and juices

◼   ► for for then you know and it's also a

◼   ► great time to just enter an entirely new

◼   ► business if you wanted to like start a

◼   ► podcast start a blog you know start

◼   ► selling t-shirts or something like if

◼   ► you wanted to start something new that

◼   ► is not an app that won't necessarily

◼   ► take up your entire life this is a good

◼   ► time to experiment with that as well so

◼   ► basically it's a time for

◼   ► experimentation of all kinds as long as

◼   ► it's not going to be a problem come June

◼   ► exactly and I think there's also

◼   ► something to be said for I haven't

◼   ► actually I mean it knowing me I'll

◼   ► probably pull a chart for this after the

◼   ► show but I'm like I imagine the number

◼   ► of new submissions this time of year is

◼   ► lower than the typical like seasonal

◼   ► rate and so if you have something that

◼   ► you've been thinking about launching

◼   ► like a small little project or something

◼   ► like there's a certain amount of wisdom

◼   ► and launching it at a time when things

◼   ► are quieter when there's less going on

◼   ► when in general like there's not a whole

◼   ► lot of tech news that's come out like

◼   ► we're kind of in this quiet bit between

◼   ► the spraying announcements and the

◼   ► summer announcements and so if you have

◼   ► something that you have been working on

◼   ► there's certainly some advantage to

◼   ► pushing to make sure that you get it out

◼   ► in the quiet time you know that's now

◼   ► because if you try and do it over the

◼   ► summer there's gonna be a lot more

◼   ► competition on the news side and if you

◼   ► try and do it in the fall then you're

◼   ► gonna have a lot of competition just on

◼   ► the competing apps side you think

◼   ► there's just a lot of new apps a lot of

◼   ► big updates you know the this if you

◼   ► think about things like the you know the

◼   ► featured page

◼   ► in the AppStore like there in this in

◼   ► the fall it's gonna be full of like the

◼   ► the apps that take advantage of the new

◼   ► stuff you know like last fall it was

◼   ► like hey here's all the apps that are

◼   ► updated for 3d touch or things like that

◼   ► like Apple tends to push those types of

◼   ► things but I don't really can't think of

◼   ► like there's not there's not a lot of

◼   ► huge big sweeping things right now that

◼   ► would push something out and so there's

◼   ► certainly an incentive to you know if

◼   ► either if you've been working on

◼   ► something and you might be able to get

◼   ► it out this is a pretty good time you

◼   ► know it's I can tell from you know

◼   ► launching activity plus plus a couple

◼   ► weeks ago that it was easier in some

◼   ► ways to get attention for something

◼   ► around now and you know if you just

◼   ► think about the volume of tech news like

◼   ► if you just you know if you're the kind

◼   ► of person who keeps up on tech news like

◼   ► it's a quiet ish time right now because

◼   ► most Apple is probably not going to be

◼   ► announcing much new because they'll save

◼   ► that for June and a lot of other the big

◼   ► organizations that you know like you

◼   ► know create tech news they're in that

◼   ► same kind of cycle that they have their

◼   ► big events in the summer or around then

◼   ► and that's when they'll be doing it so

◼   ► there's some advantage to doing that too

◼   ► like just taking advantage of it as a

◼   ► quiet time to maybe get a bit more

◼   ► attention for yourself yeah totally you

◼   ► know cuz that's you know as you

◼   ► mentioned like there there really isn't

◼   ► a lot else going on for the most part

◼   ► right now so if you have something where

◼   ► you don't necessarily need to wait until

◼   ► WDC so if it's something if it's a small

◼   ► app or something that is that doesn't

◼   ► really rely too heavily on the

◼   ► frameworks and the platform staying

◼   ► identical and things that might include

◼   ► things like games you know we don't know

◼   ► anything about games for the most part

◼   ► but but that might include things like

◼   ► games were like you're not usually using

◼   ► most of the platform api's for games

◼   ► usually you're using like OpenGL or or

◼   ► more likely some kind of higher level

◼   ► cross-platform game engine and doing all

◼   ► your custom coding in there and you're

◼   ► not really using like UI kit directly

◼   ► for most stuff and things like that so

◼   ► like you know that games are my

◼   ► everything we just said might be totally

◼   ► invalid we really have no idea but this

◼   ► is a good time for like things that will

◼   ► not likely be strongly affected by WTC

◼   ► happening

◼   ► yeah and the last thing I wanted to

◼   ► mention too is if you are going to be a

◼   ► W or DC something else you should be

◼   ► doing in this time is preparing yourself

◼   ► for it in terms of keeping an eye and a

◼   ► list and a checklist of like the things

◼   ► that you are going to the conference to

◼   ► get answered like I have a list in in my

◼   ► life in my task management system that's

◼   ► just like WWC questions and any time

◼   ► between now and do you see that I

◼   ► encounter something that I'm thinking

◼   ► like hey maybe this would be a good

◼   ► introductory question to ask an Apple

◼   ► engineer it just goes in there and I'll

◼   ► just try and keep you know keep track of

◼   ► these things and a lot of them it's

◼   ► probably good to like say it doesn't

◼   ► have don't have to be amazing questions

◼   ► like these groundbreaking novel concepts

◼   ► they're mote think of them as

◼   ► icebreakers like it's night it's so much

◼   ► easier to get a conversation going if

◼   ► you are able to go to a lab at WWDC if

◼   ► you have you know something like a

◼   ► jumping-off point that you can start

◼   ► from and so just be thinking about that

◼   ► so that rather than you know the morning

◼   ► of the Tuesday of WotC you go into the

◼   ► lab and you're like huh

◼   ► what would I like to invoke what I like

◼   ► to know like it's going to be a harder

◼   ► thing to think of the things.when versus

◼   ► now when you're kind of in think of it

◼   ► in your code running into little issues

◼   ► running into the little gotchas things

◼   ► that would be helpful to you know talk

◼   ► to someone an apple about and if they

◼   ► are if it would be relevant always good

◼   ► to file a radar about them and have that

◼   ► with have that number with you when you

◼   ► go to WWDC it just avoids the dance that

◼   ► you'll end up doing otherwise with an

◼   ► Apple engineer we're like Oh have you

◼   ► followed the radar about this and they

◼   ► say no it's like well you should

◼   ► probably do that and then kind of kits

◼   ► kind of a conversation killer versus if

◼   ► you can go in and say like yes I did

◼   ► here's the number and then you can

◼   ► continue the conversation from there so

◼   ► just a little tip that I've found very

◼   ► helpful for myself to get ready for WotC

◼   ► every year sounds good and with that I

◼   ► think we're out of time this week so

◼   ► thank you everybody for listening good

◼   ► luck with your technical debt at an

◼   ► experimental period that we're entering

◼   ► now and I hope you'll listen next week

◼   ► thanks a lot for listening and we'll see

◼   ► you then bye