Sheriff

I really wanted to give my potential users a way to play around with the app before they committing to signing up.

I recently refactored the data layer of my application to allow for demo data to be injected in to the same dashboard experience a user would ordinarily receive.

The "Launch demo" CTA can now be found in the middle of Sheriff's landing page!

Today I launched the MVP of Sheriff, tested all the entry points were working and began strategizing a go to market method.

Remembering all the things that need to be done each time you launch a new product can be tricky, I'm sure someone here has built an app for that right?

After getting back to work on the site, I enlisted the help of a previous colleague to test the site with me. After pitching him the idea he asked "What is it, like some sort of code sheriff?". Just like that the name was born.

As we all know coming up with a good name and finding the domain name to match can sometimes be tricky. https://sheriff.dev seemed to work out perfectly.

After heading back to consulting and taking a new contract role in a large development team, I began to see the same issues again. Poorly written commit messages that didn't help me understand what changes were going on in the code.

After speaking to another team member who shared the same concerns, I began to realize this was an issue that more people cared about than just me.

Like anyone working on a startup, you need a source of inspiration. Unfortunately that lead development position I was working towards had come to an end. The requirement for this tool had dwindled, and that source of inspiration had gone. This time of year is always so busy anyway.

I started work at a new startup as a developer who was given the vision of one day in the near future becoming the Head of Development. When I began working I saw the previous commit messages left in Git by the other developers. The messages were the same single word for every commit.

I wanted to correct this issue, but I also wanted a way for my developers to communicate to me what changes they are making, in real time, without me asking. The current method I saw for reporting commit messages was very limited and not what I was looking for.

Originally it was going to be called Ketchup, as a play on words. A way for me to 'Catch up' with my team while they went along with their daily business.