The Brilliant New Plan
I have been struggling as of late to stay focused and positive around Chronic, an app I have been working on for the past two years. I talk about it on my podcast, The Standup, where I discuss the adventures of working on Chronic.
You see, I was working on it with Keith, my co-founder on Chronic and my current co-host on The Standup. Keith has since left as co-founder, which should of been a warning sign to me. When you don’t ship anything for a while, you tire and start to question the whole project. Chronic is a lot of work not only with the development but also with the marketing, the design, and the business.
When Keith left, I drastically cut scope. The original plan was to create clients for the Mac, Android, iPhone, iPad, web, and perhaps even a Slack app. I decided to just concentrate on the iPhone app only.
In addition to the scope cuts, I have been increasingly unhappy with the design I was trying to implement alone. It was not meeting the design I had envisioned.
Perhaps the biggest issue I find myself in currently with Chronic is that no one knows I am working on this app, including some of my best friends. I am very concerned with launching an amazing application (says me) to no one.
So I am going to pause development on Chronic and I submit to you my new god-damn masterful (!!) 3-point plan.
#1
First, like my writing, I need a home for all my ideas, my businesses, and my work. That home is right here at good ‘ol brilliantfantastic.com. I am working on expanding this site to showcase my ideas and my work. A place here will help with my marketing efforts as I will be able to point to specific ideas and work.
#2
Second, I am going to double down my work on Juvet, an Elixir-based chat bot MVC framework that I started.
I am going to work on Juvet out in the open by streaming video of my work and regular updates on the blog. The work on Juvet will be based on a Sponsorware model that Caleb Porzio made famous. Simply, Juvet will be released as open source but only after I reach my goal with sponsorship. Sponsors will receive regular updates, workshop and tutorial videos, and a few surprises. If you believe in me or want to extend the reach and availability of chat bots, feel free to sponsor my work on Juvet.
Juvet is a key-piece to my brilliant (!!) new plan. It will be needed for the Chronic Slack app but more immediate, it will be necessary to execute #3.
#3
Lastly, I am planning to work on a new smaller development project that is related to Chronic, called Breaktime.
Chronic has this feature planned where it would send you things to do on your break. This could be reading Twitter where you left off or watching a YouTube video you saved for later. It could be a prompt to workout or to write in your journal. It was perhaps my favorite planned feature for Chronic.
I always thought I would release it after Chronic as a by-product. Because it is less ambitious and fits into my amazing (!!) 3-point plan, I am going to switch that release schedule around a bit and release Breaktime first, then build it into Chronic. As you may have guessed, Breaktime will be released as a Slack app at first. It’s Slack apps all the way down. More on Breaktime in a future post.
Chronic is not going away, I still need it to exist. It’s just on pause while I implement my fantastic (!!) 3-point plan. Chronic is ambitious and it needs some new planning, strategy, and a team. Those are being worked on but in the meantime, no rest for the wicked (!!) 3-point plan.