**Thursday Edition: Were you Epic?**
Thursday Edition: Were you Epic?
#daily-stand-up
Today is the last day of January! That means evaluating whether you achieved January's epic and crafting your epic for February!
To join in:
01 Evaluate your January epic. Did you accomplish it? If yes, why? If no, why? Was it the right epic? Did you change the goal posts? How could you improve your "North Star" for February?
02 Share your February epic. And why you chose it.
03 Help and and challenge at least one other IH to refine their epic. Is their epic specific? Measurable? Attainable? Relevant? Timely?
Optional:
04 Share your Work In Progress to underscore your accomplishments.
05 (And an @AndrewV recommendation!) Need specific help/feedback with your epic? Add a request!
Then tune in the tomorrow to get cranking!
I got a little sidetracked yesterday unfortunately, so I'm kicking myself a little. I have however wiped the ol' whiteboard so I have a clean slate from which to work today. I decided to abandon all pending side tasks or loosely related items that I thought might come up down the road. I was finding them a bit distracting, so I acknowledged them as a sunk cost of building and cut bait on those ideas and features for now. If they were good, they're already registered in my brain and will bubble to the fore down the road. For now I've a clean slate to work from that can allow me to focus more fully on getting my prototype ready for delivery this month.
EPIC
By end of 2019:
100 Users for ScheduledMemo.com: 3/100
10 Paying Customer for AutomatedApi: launch pending
By End of February:
Refactor some Scheduled Memo code into more reusable parts so I can shift it into Automated Api pipeline.
Get Automated API up and running with a limited Alpha group.
YESTERDAY
Absolutely nothing for Automated API
TODAY
Launch Scheduled Memo on Product Hunt
Complete Review of broad tasks for AutomatedApi and start breaking down subtasks for next sprint.
Provision VM host and start staging Automated API artifacts for testing.
I really want to start putting together some content marketing type stuff for my projects soon...so I'll either plan for that or jam something out. Good or bad I expect I can use it as a base to build on.
KUDOS: TBD
WORK IN PROGRESS: AutomatedApi.com
My suggestion is decide on any task, to-do or project you do chip away at a problem that gives customers immediate benefits when solved/done and support the business. As founders we do a lot of stuff but not all is customer facing AND business supportive AND money generating. I would prioritize like this to get some wins. All the other stuff will find its way of getting done because the major important & urgent items are getting your focus first.
Thanks for the reminder. That's essentially what I'm doing most days. This is a transition day, now that the one is launched and super low priority for me. Scheduled memo was just a way for me to solve a low impact problem for myself as a break from the mental overhead of my other projects. Other benefits are side effects for the larger goal. It's also a nice compact demo of a product that I can transform into an easy exercise in dogfooding for Automated Api in a couple weeks when I have that infrastructure in place.
Gotcha... Well good luck w/ Automated API and ScheduledMemo. I don't know how you do it... Every time I start 2 projects, one always gets drop. A blessing and a curse. I'm focused but I can get tunnel vision sometimes.
Maybe try https://clubhouse.io or Trello or something like it for tasks, don't rely on the brain to let things bubble up hehe. It's made my life so much easier. When I'm in build mode, I have a clear runway of stuff to build. When I am taking a break and am in planning mode, or relaxing before bed, I can line things up on the runway for dev, or setup Epics and decide what is/is not going to make the cut. Just a suggestion, but one I stand behind!
I love both of those products! I actually do have them listed in documentation somewhere. I dropped them from my most visible lists so I could let them have their time when it's appropriate. They were becoming a visible distraction that was impacting the deeper planning on more pressing functionality.
EPIC
By end of 2019:
Get 100 paying customers. 0/100 so far
By end of February:
Publically release of Brooklet to IOS and Android app stores.
Get 15 Beta testers. 4/15 so far
YESTERDAY
Add a basic text input
Anonymize analytics tracking. Identify users by id instead of by email.
Work on privacy policy
TODAY
Finish Privacy Policy
Investigate push notifications to boost retention
KUDOS
TBD
WIP - Brooklet
What are you using to manage your beta testers?
Signup - Google forms
IOS - Make a build with XCode, uploading it to ITunes Connect and sharing using Test Flight
Android - Build with react-native cli. Upload to a Google Drive folder. Email folder version to Android users.
I have started to learn react native a bit, to possibly move away from Unity, as I am working in 3 languages, which probably slows me down a little. Would be interesting to stay in VS Code all day! How have you liked it?
I like that I can use one language. Its almost a mature toolset. Its a teenage toolset, so still a bit difficult to work with. But I havent worked with Swift or Cotlin much so and I've worked with JS a LOT so it makes building new features a sinch. Add to that a node backend with aws lambdas and my whole stack is one language.
I've tried to start side projects before where I was learning a bunch of new languages and tools in the process. The overhead became too much so this time around I am specifically using tools I'm familiar with.
EPIC
01 My epics for January were:
100 first chapters published. 115 published to date. [Accomplished]
50 qualitative chapters published. [Failed]
For the first, I was laser focused. I knew exactly what a "published first chapter" looked like and I have mind map of tactics to accomplish such.
For the second, I knew I wanted qualitative. But didn't have the tits to define it.
( a ) Because in defining qualitative, that means having to "reject" customers when I'm desperate for every customer I can get; and
( b ) I'm not sure how to define qualitative. I know a tale when I see it. That part is straight forward. But what's my take on the image? Image? No image? Definitely no dick pics. But how racy is too racy?
(Interesting. The act of having admitted my avoidance has sparked ideas to confront this head on and the desire to take action. Nice.)
First and foremost... I'll ask my existing users what they think. (Duh.)
Second... I'll drop this question down in the request for help and see how IH chimes in.
02 My epics for February are:
Why? I need more chicks, or rather I need to develop more reliable channels for chicks, in order to cultivate interactions.
It's impossible to help customers find their happy ending without them interacting with each other. Interactions are proof that my customers find the app useful.
These numbers feel small. As if I'm lacking ambition. But I feel keenly the need to step back and dedicate energy to defining the tone and culture of the app.
03 Pending other posts.
Optional:
04 Happy Endings
05 Help! What's your thought re photos? Happy Endings is fundamentally a dating site. And would anyone consider dating someone that doesn't post an image? On the other hand, no other dating site asks its users to exchange chapters... typically erotic. Is it too much to ask for photos and an erotic tale?
I think perhaps images are a required option, but not an absolute requirement.
I did have one thought, have you considered that couples might want to sign up and write back and forth to each other? I realize its a dating site, but it's not an unreasonable "hack" that couples could engage each other or rekindle on such a platform. Might be a marketing angle there that you could leverage for marketing.
(Laughing!) What does that mean? A "required option/not an absolute requirement"?
And yes! Couples is one of my niches! (And "couple apps" happens to be a very tasty key word!)
Ha, fair point.
What I meant was that from an App perspective I'd consider it required option, but from a user perspective it should probably be optional or deferrable in some way.
Usually with dating sites profiles with photos get the most love. Think safety, confidence and imagination start kicking in when you're checking out pics. While erotica anonymity is key for the same reason. Can u straddle the line by starting w/ a tiny task in one area knowing that each step is getting customers comfortable at being photogenic? Maybe outside of your app. In your marketing /onboard emails.
Also is there a way you can use Patreon or treat your app like Patreon and give women a co-crea for or behind the scenes role/privileges (like one step above beta testing ) to drive up engagement?
You were epic! Love to see things play out, keep going!
I didn't set an EPIC goal for January.
February EPIC - have the app ready for beta users. I've been setting thing in motion based on the app being out by March. I picked February 18th as my date because I know that things can go wrong so I'm giving myself a buffer. I've carved out the 15-17th to focus solely on XADDAX
Why didn't you set an Epic last month?
What's the hardest item that needs to be done so your 18th date doesn't get pushed?
Honestly, I don't have a good reason for not setting one. I just had a major change in life, becoming a nomad, and I lost focus during the time of minimalizing, moving out and getting started on the road. I should have been more aware I had let working on the project slip. I was still working, I just wasn't as diligent as I should have been.
The hardest part is the generator services. I need to support Javascript, PHP and Python. PHP because that's what I'm using server side and I want to eat my own dog food. Javascript, because its necessary for client side and there is a lot of serverside needs there also. Python is being used on a lot on there server side. One of my selling points is that you can work across different languages. That means I need 3 different languages, with JS having multiple libraries and frameworks.
To make sure I hit my mark, I'm building the PHP service, which will help me make sure I have the correct requirements, then I'll farm out the Javascript and Python services. After that the challenge is to figure out how to break things apart enough to farm little pieces out to help me get across the finish line in time.
Just checking in w/ ya. How's my nomad budding doing? How's the PHP service coming along?
Thank you for checking in. It really means a lot to me.
The PHP service is taking shape. I am pretty content with API so far. I'm probably going to wrap up my first use case of generating the class for handling the GraphQL operations and objects this weekend.
My first use case is when the class doesn't exist and I'm writing it from nothing. My second use case is when the class exists and I'm adding to or removing from the class. This one will be a little complicated, but able to build off the first use case.
The next part is to be able to read the file and report on the contents. This will build off the second use case and should go fairly quickly
No problem. Good luck w/ your 1st use case w/ GraphQL operations!
Woot! What kinds of things do you expect might go wrong? For me, stuff like App Store approval. For some reason I never get a clear path through the approval process ;)
I'm not pushing for a mobile app yet, so, fortunately, I won't deal with that problem immediately.
I've found with past projects, that no matter how diligent you are, there are always things you just don't think about. Or some flaws are immediately revealed. Or despite your best intentions, you just don't get things ready in time. The 18th is really about making sure I'm focused.
January's Epics
I had hoped to complete my mobile app and SaaS app MVP's by the end of January, but I got slogged down bigtime in my dayjob working on Alexa voice skills in the last week or so. I'm really glad I got some huge bursts of work in this month. So, overall, I think I set some hard but attainable goals for myself this month. I moved the goal posts a little by punting some features into the next MVP. I ended up here (6:15pm last day of January). 3 rough stories to go, with a few hours left, and just finishing up the day job. I have a chance :)
I just wanted to complete the MVPs and get in a position to setup a launch plan.
February Epics
In February I plan on taking the MVPs, making some collateral for landing pages, and doing some soft promotion to get some signups for beta. Both the App and SaaS should be usable, so I can do some early release testing with people and a goal to release more openly in March.
So Feb's Epics will be:
SaaS Early Release: 5 signups
This one will take me out of my comfort zone, because I will need to go ask some podcast shows to come in and check things out.
Mobile App TestFlight: 25 users
I chose this to really challenge myself and take input at this early stage, find bugs, etc before I do a public release. I have some people asking to buy or download the app already, so hopefully won't be too much of a problem.
Prepare for Launch
Nailing down my landing pages, setting up a plan for marketing, or working with the on-boarded shows to introduce the app to their listeners. Making sure I have subscription stuff nailed down and the right IAP items in my app. Prepping the iOS App Store for release with screenshots, copy, video, etc, and making sure I am using the right account to publish, etc.
WIP
https://magnusrush.com
As of Jan 31
JAN EPIC
Originally it was getting my First 10 pre-orders. Then first 10 active beta customers. Then I dropped it to 5. Honestly, I got too ambitious with the one customer I closed in December. Jan revealed I didn't have any sales process set up because I hadn't narrowed the problem down. I was still too broad.
To set myself up for success, I'll keep reevaluating where I'm at (regarding money, resources, mental & physical capacity) as Mindful progress. My resources and strategy have to play nice if I'm going to reach my Epic.
FEB EPIC
Get 1 customer to commit to 2 months of service. I chose this goal because I got a customer before but can I overdeliver to the point that they don't churn (cancel) before Month 2.
KUDOS
@AndrewV for testing/reviewing my launch page. You impart some major wisdom, my friend.
WIP Mindful
side note - I got a lot done by making each project a business question (.e.g What's my value proposition?). I also did my work in 2, 3-day or 1-week sprints.