The One-Woman Dev Team Diaries #209
8 weeks before Feature Freeze, the tradeoff between access and boundaries as a CEO and one-person dev team, a Day In The Life, and lovely social media shoutouts!
8 Weeks To Go
There are 10 weeks left in the year, but only 8 weeks for me to code thanks to our upcoming Christmas Feature Freeze.
So yeah, 8 weeks to get StoryGraph’s UI, UX, and Performance up a notch all-round, and to deliver on a few things I’ve been talking about for years. 😅
(Remember, “Delulu Is The Solulu”.)
Wish me luck and productivity. 🤞🏾 🍀
Italia
I had a wonderful time in Rome and Florence last week with Saron.
Here are a few snaps from my trip:
Thank you to everyone who sent me recommendations. They sure came in handy and led to some trip highlights.
Access and Boundaries
I’ve built StoryGraph on the back of being open and transparent. I share what I’m building, what I’m thinking, what I’m struggling with. People message me. I respond. It’s one of the reasons people love StoryGraph — it feels human. There’s a real person behind it.
But sometimes I feel the strain of that openness. A blunt, rude comment here; a long, patronising email there — the kind that assumes I haven’t thought things through or that I’m not painfully aware of a product shortcoming.
And suddenly, I feel the need to defend decisions I’ve spent ages mulling over behind the scenes. That takes time and energy.
I try to see it as practice for a strong character — a test of stoicism, of composure under fire, both of which I’m pretty good at. But sometimes I think: Do I need this at all? Should I be dealing with this? Should all of my emails and DMs just go to Abbie?
Still, being accessible has been a big part of the magic, both for me and for StoryGraph. So I’m thinking about whether there does need to be a change and what that would even look like. How do I protect my energy and boundaries without dimming the openness and warmth that got me here in the first place?
If you have any thoughts on this, hit “Reply” and share.
A Day In The Life
Jacinda followed me around — her dream (😆) — on October 1st and put together this awesome Day In The Life video:
Hope you enjoy it!
Do we have any similarities in our day? Anything you want to start doing?
(If you can’t view it on Instagram, you can check it out on YouTube but it’s not as good because the backing track isn’t as poppin’. Copyright things. 😒)
Social Media Highlights
Some gems from the last couple of weeks:
What I'm reading
I’m about to start reading Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. Will I like it as much as Station Eleven (probably not, but you never know…!) or The Glass Hotel (maybe!)? Let’s see!
Have a great week,
Nadia