The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries #186
Missing newsletter replies, record-breaking traffic, StoryGraph in the news, and a gift idea for book lovers!
No Reply
Me: “Mum, you haven’t replied to my last few newsletters. Now, I know you’ve been travelling, but that hasn’t stopped you before. You’ve replied to every single one up until recently.”
Mum: “What?! I have been replying! You’re the one who’s not been responding to me!”
Me: …
For the last five issues, I have thought that my responses have been a little on the quiet side, especially given me writing about the Apple feature and our TikTok spike, but I have been receiving texts from friends about these things so I knew that my emails were being delivered.
And it’s not like I’m often inundated with replies. Most issues it’s just two or three. Always at least one from my mum though…
Then I had the sinking realisation that I didn’t think I’d received a single email reply since I'd toggled a setting on Replies in the Buttondown dashboard.
When I first moved over, I didn’t like the default where replies went to an automated email address and were forwarded on to me as email notifications all in one long thread.
I was told that turning off that setting would result in me receiving the replies as normal direct emails…not in me not receiving anything at all! 😱
Anyway, I’ve since discovered the obscure place where all of my replies have been hiding and have gone back and replied to everyone!
If you’ve sent me an email in response to #181 onwards and are yet to hear from me, please re-send your message! 🙏🏾
Record-Breaking Days
Last time I wrote about us going viral on TikTok.
Since then…
And then, the day after that…
While we’ve still got a lot more to do on the performance side of things, Rob figured out a bunch of stuff which meant that the app’s speed wasn’t any slower than during what had historically been normal traffic!
Read All About It
A couple news outlets reached out as they were reporting on our uptick in sign-ups.
CBC News was one, though the article had already been published before I had a chance to reply to the email asking me for a comment! (I responded a couple hours after I saw the reporter’s email, but that had been sent just before I went offline for the evening!)
I know this newsletter is public, and I never say anything that I wouldn’t be comfortable seeing posted elsewhere, but it was still a surprise to have contents of the last issue being used as a whole section in Stechyson’s piece. I definitely appreciated my own words being used directly, and a link to the newsletter being included, especially in that context!
The other was HuffPost and I was able to have a lovely quick chat with Jillian Wilson over Zoom before she published her piece.
I love the way she wrapped up the story:
‘Tis The Gift-Giving Season
Not sure what to get the book lover in your life this holiday season?
StoryGraph Plus is a great idea! It’s the ultimate upgrade for readers who love data and want to elevate their reading experience.
And gifting Plus is fast and hassle-free—you don’t even need a StoryGraph account!
And…since we’re speaking of the holiday season and gifts… 👀
…if you enjoy reading this newsletter and want to support me further, please consider taking out a monthly “Pay-What-You-Want” Supporter Subscription (min $5/month) to The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries. (There’s an annual option too!)
This newsletter will always be free but I’m considering starting a private Discord and/or providing some other content to my paid supporters, starting early 2025.
If you take out a subscription and have any ideas/preferences for extra content/community spaces, hit “Reply” and let me know! (I promise to respond! 😅)
Since Last Time…
Let me give you a status update on my three focal points during the last two weeks:
Performance
Rob and I have been working on a way to improve the performance on our book list views and filtering. We’re currently populating a denormalised table for books and I hope to transition key parts of the app over to using that by the end of this week.Implementing the new designs
I’ve started implementing more of Yeji’s designs across the reading challenges — in which there are several components that will be reused across the app — and reviews, but I’ve not deployed anything yet. Covering a bunch of different user states across light mode and dark mode always takes longer that you think!
Lil’ teaser of the top of the new reviews page. Improving the UX of the mobile apps
We’re going to be introducing the use of native modals in the app in order to improve the user experience (UX) in a bunch of places, especially when working through a list. I’m starting with implementing this for reviews, and deploying a new version of the app, before applying the pattern in other places. I have versions kinda working across Android and iOS but some of the flows are rough and need fine-tuning.
A lil’ teaser of the upcoming modal flow.
Three weeks to go!! 😮💨
What I'm reading
I've finished Anthony Horowitz’s Magpie Murders so if you want to talk about it, I’m all ears! (Or should I say ‘eyes’? Hit “Reply”! 😅)
Now I’m rereading Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven, eight years on from when I first read it, and I’m loving it. It was a 4-star read for me back then, but it’s in 5-star territory at the moment! 👀
And, in a bid to catch up with my Pages Goal, I’ve been working through the Sapiens graphic novel adaptations!
Have a delightful December and a great week,
Nadia