Saturday, October 3, 2009

Independent Developer

I assume that if anyone reads this blog — anyone? hello? — they also read my main blog, An Obsession With Food. So you've probably already seen the announcement: I launched 1.0 of my iPhone app, which helps home cooks organize the prep tasks for a dish.

What that really means is that for the first time in my professional career, I'm an independent developer. Of course, I also work for a company that can pay me. I am not planning my retirement based around sales of my application in the App Store. But I'll be the one doing the marketing — ugh — tech support, and project management. Now I'll have users. At least I hope I will.

So far, I've been the primary user of this app. In a way, this is good, because it's forced me to use the app day in and day out, finding the things that annoy me and then fixing them. But it's also bad. The app is tailored to the way I do things, even though most people probably have different menu planning strategies. I've had testers, of course, who have offered feedback. But, as of today, I have four times as many users as I did before I launched. I'm hoping they'll take the time to write me and offer suggestions, but who knows what will happen?

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