Walking Again
Should I build it? That's the question right after the moment where everything feels clear. That moment—if it happens—tends to be after a long and winding journey into what is it. But that's all over now, or so you think. Because right now it totally makes sense and seems, well, easy.
The thing is, you're always wrong. About all of it. But you have to start somewhere and that's what this question is really about. Am I ready to begin this journey?
It was easier the first time. I didn't even know Swift! It was just exploring and learning and letting things organically come together. No pressure. Like the first album. This is the sophomore effort and everything's different. The first public version of Series came out 6 months after I started learning iOS. I put out a major update each month for 9 months. It was a blast, pure flow. This was well into 2020. Then, around October everything stopped.
In September I'd taken on a contract job. Two years was as long as I could afford the full-time indie dream. I found myself working 110% on two apps and it didn't take long to burn out. Physically; my RSI (tendonitis) came back with a vengeance, and emotionally; I was spent. So I put Series aside and focused on the job. I stayed off the keyboard as much as possible and started yoga to recover my body.
During the next 11 months I found bits of time to think about Series. Progress came in little bursts of inspiration and energy while trying my best to balance burnout and responsibilities. I built a number of experiments exploring various ideas. Not the kind of production-ready code that I could ship. That takes a kind of focus and mindset that I still didn't have room for.
Meanwhile, I was learning a ton about iOS development on the contract job. So much that looking back at Series made me shudder. The first versions were probably fine, but as I'd created more and more features in those monthly releases I'd also been exploring new patterns for building the app. All of those learning experiences were now a tangled mess of code. I knew that to move forward I'd have to start fresh. The engineering manager in me knows better than do to the grand rewrite, but I won't listen. That would be hard, and not fun. Most importantly, it would constrain what the product should become.
It's time to get started. Series 2, a fresh start. Everything you love about Series but more. iOS, macOS, more flexible, more organic, more connected, more integrated. Video?
A few weeks ago I realized that all those experiments I'd started and abandoned were the building blocks. I had running code for some of the most important components of the app. None of it worked together, but I could see it! In my head it was already done, nothing to do but type it out.