The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries #204
A drop in productivity, rising costs, a fitness challenge with a reading twist, venturing into YouTube, and a summer-themed readathon. ☀️ 📚
Poor Productivity
After my workation in Paris, I came back raring to go and ready to keep knocking developments out left, right, and centre…
…and well…
👀
…that didn’t happen. 😔
A combination of having to catch up on a few things, both life- and work-related, some pre-arranged social commitments dotted about, and just generally feeling sleepy while I experimented with an earlier caffeine cutoff (as it’s starting to dawn on me that opposed to caffeine not really having an effect on me, it just metabolises in my body a lot later than I realised..and would prefer), I just didn’t get a lot done on the product. 😭
I didn’t even touch the new Favorites feature…
Still, I did fix a bunch of bugs that were causing pages to crash, made a speed improvement on reading challenges, and delivered a user experience improvement to Similar Books.
And my most productive day was the one I spent co-working in Brighton with my friend, Andy.
So do I just need to be going on work trips every week then? 😅
Rising Costs…
As we continue to grow (and sometimes over-provision on our resources, especially while we iron out our performance issues) our costs grow too.
In my “Getting To Two Million Users As A One-Woman Dev-Team” talk, I mention the importance of always keeping costs low, especially as a bootstrapped business.
But I also say: “There’s only so far you can go with keeping costs low. At some point, you have to…make money…”.
Looking at our rising costs, which can push some months into the red, has made me realise that I need to dedicate more time each week to the development of the Plus and Giveaways offerings, as well as optimise conversions.
If anybody has any general tips on this kind of stuff — optimising conversions, that is — please send them my way! 🙏🏾
Heels + Dumbbells
I was tagged in this fitness/mobility challenge and I had to give it a go, complete with a Nadia-esque twist of course, inspired by other variations I’d seen.
I’m so pleased with the final outcome because it was incredibly hard and there was a point when I thought I wasn’t gonna be able to realise my vision. 😅
YouTube
After a random conversation with a mutual friend, one of my besties, Jacinda Tayler, has decided that I absolutely must start a YouTube channel.
And she’s going to manage the whole thing! (Good, because I ain’t got the time! 😮💨)
So..if video content/YouTube is your thing, please do subscribe!
There’s going to be a whole range on there, showcasing all facets of my life, but I think we’re going to start with an AMA-style interview. ✨
(Also, if you need a freelance, remote social media or marketing manager — or if you’re based in London and need dog-sitting — Jacinda is definitely your gal!)
Live Founder Q&A
Rob and I did another Founder Q&A live on Instagram.
You can check out the recording if you wanna know what we’re most excited to see in the product this year, what our current favourite book of 2025 is, what we think is the most underutilised feature in the app, and more!
A Summer Readathon
My readathon-organising friend was back with the summer edition yesterday.
We made bookmarks, enjoyed summery snacks, took part in a mystery book swap, and had a delicious quiet two-hour reading session.
I’m already excited for her spooky Halloween edition.
What I'm reading
I’m reading this classic on Watergate — All The President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward — and for extra fun I’m buddy reading it with a friend!
Have a great week,
Nadia