Back
Marc Köhlbrugge

Marc Köhlbrugge
PRO

@marc

Maker of WIP. Building various other projects as well. Writing book about domain names.
2
39
Joined September 2017

I've used Close.io in the past which wasn't overly complex, but perhaps still more complex than you'd like.

I'm also aware of Less Annoying CRM which positions itself as being simple, but I haven't used it.

Clever idea! I agree with @h_boon on using OAuth.

I'd replace the homepage with an input field where people can enter their App Store listing URL, you can then fetch the changelog (assuming it's public?), and render a preview of what the posts would look like.

Maybe using a split-pane layout. Form on the left, example on the right.

If enough people set their handle, I'll make an auto-updating starter pack of WIP members.

Anything that's configurable per-user complicates things. Examples:

Performance: Toggling that switch would need to wipe out the cache for all your todos.
UX: Requires some type of toggle that's hard to explain out of context (e.g. settings menu), but takes up too much space within the right context (next to the timestamp)
Code: yet another if/else statement (= two branches of logic)

I generally prefer to avoid per-user configuration.

Yes, it's possible. But it means we can't re-use the same cache for everyone. Which isn't horrible, but not ideal either.

I've explored many different ways to do implement streaks. The "as long as it's within 24 hours of the previous one" approach has its own issues. Just one example: if your last completed todo is at 3pm yesterday, and today you complete a todo at 4pm, you'd lose your streak. There's a bunch of other issues you'll run into when you actually try to implement it.

Fortunately, the current streak system works very well and has held up over time. It has support for time zones, etc. No need to change it I think.

The occasional confusion around time zones is that people don't always update them here on the website. In which case it's possible the todo is marked for a different calendar day than they'd expect. Seeing the time zone the todo was completed in helps clarify that.

( In case of your "Amsterdam-Tokyo" example you just make sure to complete a todo sometime on January 2nd (e.g. when you land). If you don't, you did in fact skip a calendar day so the streak being lost is correct behavior. )

I meant the 24h rule as an addition to the current rules (next day OR within 24h), but I havent tried to implement it so I believe you when you say there are more issues!

though, i'd take a leaf from myfitnesspal. let there be a "streak amnesty". if you missed yesterday due to travel or whatever reason, and you fill up the food you took in today, the streak continues. so its effectively 48h :)

Would there be a meaningful difference between listing all your completed todos verbatim versus having AI rewrite them?

yes because you would ask the AI to filter out anything that--in its estimation--doesn't seem like it's on-topic / indie-hacking/shipping-related. And then also filter to the most-significant accomplishments.

I experimented with this a few months ago, but can't find any of the screenshots anymore 😅

Would you want a list of bullet points of what you completed that week or more of a regular paragraph?

Would you want it to be written from first perspective ("I worked on…") so you can share it with others? Or more of a summary to yourself by the AI? ("You worked on…")

@marc Since it's AI you could maybe let the user choose how they want it. Personally I think you should be doing a lot more to kick people in the ass to get shit done, the best coaching experience I've ever had was at a CrossFit box in Washington DC run by former Division-1 athletes who were all clearly on gear and all looked incredible, they really set the tone, the pace, the attitude to get everyone fired up and serious. I really think people would appreciate it, of course you have to be smart about it and not be a jerk or hurt people's feelings but if they can tell you're doing it to try to help them I think they'll appreciate it.

But to answer your question I would personally want it to score me, have it hook it up to productivity software like ActivTrak to get a sense of the amount of time I worked and GitHub to see how many lines of code I wrote. I want to know how I compare to the "pacersetters" who are actually successful, people like you and Pieter (and I think Ben is on his way). So maybe have it talking to me while impersonating a coach of my choice: Elon Musk, you, Pieter, etc.

@marc but yeah I think bullet points would be better than a paragraph

Would there be a meaningful difference between listing all your completed todos verbatim versus having AI rewrite them?

yes because you would ask the AI to filter out anything that--in its estimation--doesn't seem like it's on-topic / indie-hacking/shipping-related. And then also filter to the most-significant accomplishments.