Tootle is a ride sharing service that matches bike riders and commuters. While the concept is not new, there are several contextualization factors that makes it unique. As research and development engineer and lead software developer, this was my biggest challenge to date and I learnt a lot of things. However, since we worked in a very small team, I occasionally came across problems related to branding, client relationship, marketing and overall B2C business model. This blog post will dive into those learnings rather than focus on technological implementations. To summarize the entire post, it is about my journey from a single dimensional software developer to a software developer who also understands project management, human resources, market, competition, branding and plethora of other factors that a software developer whose long term goal is to become a tech entrepreneur needs in their arsenal.
Start small, www.rome.com was not built in a day
This is trivial for most people, but not for me. There were times I was so focused on completing a task that I lost the bigger picture. Breaking down a task into smaller subtasks and solving them as soundly as possible is the key. Also, when you push yourself too hard, you miss small details that might have huge consequences in the future. Think scalability while solving little problems. Like Will Smith said, “You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built.’ You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid. You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.” Also, Hofstadter’s law will come along to shatter all your to-do plans for the day. It’s just the way it is. Deal with it.
Development and design is an iterative, never ending process. It is not a sprint but a marathon. Seeking perfectionism hurts. First of all, there is no perfect code or design. There might be something that looks, feels and works great today, but it is never going to be perfect. You will always have to come back to that line of code, redesign that slider that looked great once upon a time and continuously update based on user feedback. Coding is a little of writing code and a lot of maintaining it. You are never really done. Project preplanning and risk management might help with not having to go back to drawing board again and again, but development and design is very much an agile process.
Hire people who love what they do and love learning Coworkers become your second family. During the course of Tootle development, I actually spent more time with my coworkers than my family. Fortunately, everyone involved with Tootle are very passionate, hard-working and motivated people who never shy from learning. Also, certain characteristics such as being ardent, an embodiment and advocate of the product, and hardworking are more important than being skillful. I was also on the hiring team and I made sure to look for these characteristics. After all, Leicester City won 2015-2016 Barclays Premier League primarily because of their team spirit.
Prioritize what is important There will be a lot of bugs. Code related stuff aside, there will also be several things that need attention. However, time is limited. At times you could be in front of your computer debugging for hours and hours, but still the issue tracker list and crash reporting list will be full. Therefore it is necessary to prioritize based on impact level. Assessing impact of a particular task can be difficult. However, if you have an awesome team, it is just a matter of discussing from a business and technical point of view. Also distinguishing between bugs, enhancement, improvement proposal and task is very important.
Communication solves 95% of all problems Communication is the key. Often during the day, talk to coworkers about the problems that you are having. First of all, when you explain the problem to someone, you understand the problem better yourself. Secondly, you are also in sync with what problems everyone else is facing. Similarly, simply talking about work related problems, expressing how you feel about deadlines, doing risk analysis together, discussing business strategy together, communicating dissatisfactions etc. will help solve a lot of problems earlier. So, constantly take a break, look outside the window, get a glass of water and simply talk.
Stress can be a catalyst if applied properly This project was very much stressful. Retrospectively, it was supposed to be too because of its complexity. One of the things I really struggled with is handling stress. I have gotten better over the course of this project. However, I am still working on learning to change stress to a catalyst. I hope to become Arsene Wenger someday (giggles). However, I have learnt that if things don’t work tonight, you simply have to sleep over it. The freshness of morning solves a lot of problems.
You could also just watch SRK dance in Hosh na khud kahi josh….
Go running in the morning, be healthy This one is self-explanatory. Run to remain stress free and healthy. I stopped running for a while because I was lazy. But, I was also lazy because I was not running.
Competition is good While reading The Personal MBA by Josh Kaufman, I realized that having market competition is actually advantageous. This concept was really counterintuitive to me previously. Competition is good because it implies higher probability of fulfillment of something known as the Iron Law of Market. It basically means that like you, other people have also seen the availability of the market you are targeting. Similarly, there is a lot to learn from your competition. Learning and applying the principles of game theory helps a lot too. Awesome tech implementation is second to client’s requirement You could spend weeks and months on awesome, flawless and amazing features that your clients don’t really care about or half an hour on simple features that makes all the difference to them. For example, adding a bitcoin as payment system would be cool, but allowing a female client to select a female driver makes the product secure and also adds marketing and advertising weight.
Beta tests are really really really important You could sit hours upon hours, days upon days trying to find and fix all the problems. But, finding problems is more difficult once you know your product inside out. You are in a controlled office environment with fast internet, limited real test devices and a clear understanding of product workings. There is no way for you to find all the problems. The solution is to find real users to test, use and provide feedbacks. Canary tests and beta tests are therefore very important.
Just because you like it, does not mean users are going to like it also You might absolutely love your product. However, it does not mean every user will like it also. Be prepared to get bad ratings. Also, they are not wrong to dislike something you adore so much.
Previous projects and keeping up to date with latest technologies help a lot I really believe this one is a biggie. Regardless of whether or not a product succeeds, it is always a stepping stone for future products. This product would not have been possible or would have been terribly difficult without Edcrayon, Edquake, and dozens of other location related prototype. When prototyping, research on newer stacks and practices.
In the end, revenue matters the most In the words of Josh Kaufman, Do not be a mercenary since dedication in craft, patience to find right market to be dedicated towards and consistency is required to eventually make money.
Also, do not be a crusader since you need money to pay the bills.
Wish us good luck with our tootle journey.
