1 // I’m Doing This—and Why I Am
Hey Timo! (In case you’re reading this later, I’m currently at 1 subscriber, so I can personalize this a bit)
I don’t really know what I’ll write in these newsletters yet. Let’s see where this journey leads me. Let me tell you why I‘m writing this:
Back in 2017, I started working on a side project which I wanted to push out as fast as possible. I decided to document the process by writing a daily „Zero to MVP in 30 days“ column. It allowed me to reflect on where I’m heading—I had to stay laser focused—collect feedback, and to generally get the word out.
With my current project Formable I want to do something similar. I published articles about my previous projects on Medium, but after the initial 30 day challenge was over, I never quite got into a proper publishing schedule.
So now I’ve been thinking about which format to go with. For now, I opted for going with writing every Sunday. The plan is to just get my thoughts about the week, or sometimes, like today about a single topic in more detail out of my brain. Not much editing, rather like writing a quick email. Yeah, not taking the time to write a short letter, so writing a long one here. Writing this on my phone on the way home from a day of skiing, that’s the level of effort I’m going with here.
That‘s also why this is at least for now a newsletter, not a blog. I only drop my thoughts. This is not a timeless piece I‘d recommend reading just a single entry from. People who don’t want to follow the journey for more than a week probably don’t need to read these at all.
Ok, that’s it for why I’m doing this newsletter thing. Next week I might talk about Formable a bit more. Let’s get to how my week went. I’ll go with the three headings below for now.
What I’ve been working on
I have to admit that this hasn’t been my most productive week. Besides being mentally preoccupied by what’s happening in Ukraine, I have some lazy excuses like not getting perfect sleep.
For Formable, I’m mainly working on small bug fixes and small improvements. I want to start gathering some user feedback in March, so it’s MVP building time.
That doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about the long term vision all the time. One particular thing I’ve been kind of speccing out is how to do dates in Formable. Just like with my previous project Votre or competitors like Roam, I want to offer a daily note functionality, and later other date related functionality.
Like anything in Formable, because I want to make it super modular in the long run, is quite complex to design.
I’ve also finished an article about my story getting from Votre to Formable. I’m planning to publish it on Medium. Let’s see if I get into any publication.
What I’ve been thinking about
Sending love and hope to Ukraine. Reading what’s going on there is hitting me pretty hard. I don’t want to lie to myself, but I’d say that news normally don‘t really influence me. But this is quite unsettling. Ukraine’s border is a less than six hour drive from here, Vienna.
What I’m consuming
Too much news!
Still reading the book Starting Strength. I find it fascinating in which detail it explains how to move your body in various weight lifting exercises, and why those movements are optimal. I’m wondering what other similar books I could read, describing body movements in such great detail. Thinking about sports, sex, yoga, everyday activities like walking, … Any suggestions?
I’ve also subscribed to a handful of newsletters. I used to keep my inbox free of any subscriptions, but now that I’m writing one myself, some inspiration for sure doesn’t hurt. Again, any suggestions for good newsletters, on any topic?
Ok, this has gotten longer than expected. Feels like an article, not like an email or newsletter
I’ll try to go for more of a bullet point style next time
Until then, have a good calendar week 9 of 2022
–Emil