Posts tagged "programming"
3

Shitty 2010

2010 was a difficult year.  

This post is mainly for myself.  It’s not an excuse; just a brief chronicle of why I didn’t really accomplish many of the things I planned to in 2010.

January & February:

  • Started working hard on SousChef for iPhone, when the iPad was announced I realized that was the perfect device to bring SousChef to.  Stopped iPhone dev, started working on iPad version.
  • Picked up a new contract (#1) that promised to be quite lucrative.  Unfortunately clients are a pain in the ass.

March:

  • Worked my ass off finishing SousChef for iPad 1.0 to be there on day 1.
  • Worked on contract #1, spent lots of time tweaking and re-tweaking things based on the clients whims.

April:

  • Got SousChef for iPad on the App Store on day 1.  However  put a lot of it’s promotional bulk behind BigOven.  Initial sales were disappointing compared to many other developers reports.  
  • Was burned out from March.  Put a huge amount of work into landscaping, gardening and beekeeping.
  • Pain in the ass contract #1 becomes more of a pain in the ass while slowly moving closer to completion.
  • Approached by a contact regarding a contract I’d love to do, they decide to hire a big company instead. [Big company eventually screws them over in October.] Quite disappointed.

May:

  • Working in ernest on the most requested feature addition to SousChef for iPad: syncing with the Mac.  Syncing is harder than I expected.
  • SousChef for Mac hasn’t had an update in the since the new year, waiting to add syncing.
  • SousChef for iPhone on hold until iOS 4.x theoretically will unify them. 
  • Contract #1 goes south. Client is unhappy with the web developer, transfers some of that unhappiness to us.
  • I’m elected co-chair of the neighborhood association. Probably a bad idea.

June:

  • Client of contract #1 refuses to pay most recent bill of around four grand.  We stop working on the project, I’m out five grand total because I have a contract employee that was working on the project for me who I have to pay in any case. 
  • Start new contract #2 to recoup some of the loss on contract #1.
  • Refinance our house.

July:

  • Finish development of contract #2.  App Store submission is hung up on bureaucracy.  Final payment isn’t billable until App Store submission.
  • Update long standing contract app for OU’s Scripps JSchool.
  • Starting work on what will eventually be our second title.  We’ll call this secret project #1 (SP1).

August:

  • Unable to ship anything.  
  • Work on a bunch of random bits of things including SP1, but not making much headway.
  • Waste a bunch of time. Do some remodeling of our kitchen.
  • Realize I’ve been suffering from depression for the last 4 months.

September

  • Go to doctor and start taking an anti-depressant which takes 4-6 weeks to become effective (this is normal).
  • Keep working on SP1. Lose our designer with 2 out of 4 interfaces designed.

October

  • Anti-depressant really starts to work.
  • Work on finding a new designer to complete last 2 designs + icon for SP1.
  • Really start doing stuff with the neighborhood assoc. which takes time away from work.
  • Start work on a big rewrite of BreakDownWay Lessons (aka BDW, a contract app) to support iOS 4.x, iPad, in-app purchase, download resuming, etc.
  • Realize I haven’t shipped an update since April. Start to doubt I can.

November:

  • Work to get an update to SousChef for iPad out to support iOS 4.2; run into what I still consider a bug in iOS 4.2—wait for response from .
  • Work on BDW rewrite with their web developer.
  • Work with a bunch of great Indie Mac devs on the Indie Mac Six Pack.

December:

  • Start working on an update of SousChef for the Mac App Store. Continue working on several frustrating bugs in SousChef for iPad.
  • Indie Mac Six Pack.
  • Holidays.
  • Contract #2 is still stuck in limbo.

And that’s it.  2011 has been much better so far.  I’ve actually shipped an update for SousChef for iPad; the SousChef v1.3 update which will be submitted to the Mac App Store is almost done and syncing will follow shortly.  SousChef for iPhone will be released in the not too distant future (my employee took development over in November).  And sometime soon SP1 might get out the door followed by long overdue work on some other projects…  I also have a bunch of possible leads on new contracts if I want them.

Hopefully I’ll not write another post like this next year.