Welcome and Feedback
Happy July! Welcome to the first issue of The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries...but the 175th issue of this newsletter. It didn't feel right to start from #1. It's still the same newsletter; it's just going through another evolution!
I want you all to really look forward to this every other week (I'm keeping the fortnightly cadence for now, but that can change!), so please do let me know what you love, what you're not a fan of, what you want to see more of, and I'll do my best to accommodate.
Whether you're new or have been reading for years, thank you for following along on this journey. 😊
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Monthly Templates
For a while, we've wanted to have monthly shareable graphics on the app. They were scheduled for later this year, but a random Threads comment I made the other month popped off and I decided to bump this feature's priority.
We did a bunch of customer research and settled on a menu of four templates, and the first two were released last week.
Here's my May and June reading in order to demonstrate: |
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We're so pleased with the reception, especially because, to us, these are the least exciting template options we've got planned. There's a stats summary and calendar view on the way. I hope to have them out in time for July wrap-ups! 🤞🏾
I woke up today to this brilliant Reddit screenshot from Rob: |
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🥹 😂
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Saron's Speaking Tour
Since I last to wrote to you, I've followed my bestie, Saron Yitbarek, around Europe (Germany and Switzerland, to be exact) while she spoke at and emceed various conferences.
Saron is also the wife of my co-founder, Rob (aka mr. storygraph), and so it was wonderful to all be together. We got some fun co-working sessions in!
Rob and I work together incredibly well given I'm in the UK and he's in California, but nothing beats collaborating in person!
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For one of the conferences, as a surprise for the attendees, they put on a late night talk show, complete with a live band and full camera crew. They invited me to be the first guest and it was such an awesome experience sharing StoryGraph stories while all glammed up. And it was extra special because Saron was the host! 🥰
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I had my own speaking gig at the end of it all, opening up Brighton Ruby with my Getting to two million users as a one-woman dev team talk.
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I'll let y'all know when the recording goes live! I talk about all the steps I took to build StoryGraph from nothing to what it is today!
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Alumna of the Year
I've been nominated for the GDST Alumna of the Year 2024 award!
To be a finalist is such a huge honour, though it does feel strange to be nominated for all of my work on StoryGraph when the product feels so very far from where I want it to be! |
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What I'm reading
I've learnt, via conversations with others, that there is an element of stoicism built into how I approach my life and work. So, when I met a woman who raved about Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic, a page-a-day guide to stoic living, I decided to pick it up and read two lessons a day in order to catch up by the end of the year!
Have you read this one? Does Stoic philosophy appeal to you? |
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Have a great week (and let me know what you thought of this issue),
Nadia
P.S. Know somebody who's an avid reader or would enjoy following along with this journey? Please do forward this email to them! Thank you. :-)
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