Six Software Products in One Year

Time and effort

The time is flying by.

I think I’m gaining a sense for what is achievable in a given period of time. My usual strategy is to think “I need this done TODAY” and then burn very hard to get it done. I get my payoff at the end of the day and am temporarily satisfied. I don’t really ‘get’ longer-term planning, though.

For the last few weeks I’ve been working hard and consistently. I haven’t been getting the big payoff at the end of the day, but I have been satisfied with my effort. I think that’s more important in the long term. It does make me anxious that things will never be completed, though, so I’ve spent a little time writing a plan for how I’m going to get to the next major milestone - someone giving me money for a product. My Plan for Profitability, although profitability comes a long way down the track.

I’ll probaby do The Plan in another post. It doesn’t help that I haven’t written it yet, despite claims to the contrary in the preceding paragraph.

Bluetooth sensors

I had a fun little coincidence when, within 24 hours, I received two separate enquiries for temperature logging devices. Then another one for a sound sensor. Then some accelerometers. And I want heart rate and altitude monitoring.

So one of the ’software products’ will be data logging/Bluetooth/alarming widgets. It’s within my capabilities as an electronics geek and provides a nice alternative to software (though there is a lot of software inside anyway).

I did have a half-hearted attempt at an electronics design/manufacturing business a few years back. I can confidently say that back then, I was a noob. In a few years, I’ll probably look back at this time and say that I’m a noob. I do that anyway. I’m always smarter in the future.

Anyhow, I’ve slapped together a basic Bluetooth temperature sensor. The technical challenges at this point are:

• Produce a smaller, cheaper, more battery-friendly design.
• Work out how to provide more accurate temperature measurements. Sensor calibration is not a business that I want to get into.
• Design an API for people to write software for the thing.
• Work out if there are going to be any regulatory hurdles that I’ll have to jump through - EMI/EMC emissions, RoHS regulations, export controls and so on. Software is a lot easier - any chump can ship dangerous software anytime.

It’s fun. It is a lot more capital-intensive than software, but there’s a much greater variety of activities. And being able to hold a device in your hand and say, “I created this” is satisfying on a much deeper level than software.

More and more marketing

After my initial marketing binge at the start of the year, I haven’t done much (apart from this blog). I need to get on top of it again. It helps me work out where my efforts are best spent, and I need to get some consulting work happening. Not really need, I guess, but I’d feel a lot better if I didn’t have to dip into my savings to pay my bills.

I’ve been writing content for various websites, but I have a much lower tolerance for that than coding. I can manage six solid hours/day of coding. I can manage maybe one or two for writing marketing copy. Electronics design I can do more or less indefinitely, but it’s far less demanding than either of the two (most of the time is spent interfacing with the tools rather than mentally designing things. I still use pen and paper for most of it).

Planner

One of my initial ideas (on the right) was for a hierarchical todo list thing. I wrote a prototype that satisfied my needs and then lost interest. Most of the features that I had determined other people wanted were completely uninteresting to me. Plus, the concept was more or less stolen from AbstractSpoon’s ToDoList, so I felt a little bad about trying to charge money for his ideas.

So I’ve been using this hacked-together Python-and-wx-and-sqlite thingo for a year or so, now, and it suits my needs beautifully. I’m sure it will suit somebody else’s needs, so rather than try to commercialize it, I’m going to stick the code up somewhere and let you lot Have At It.

Eventually, anyway. Releasing free software is not on The Plan, so it will most likely get ignored for a while.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.