Forever 1% Better

I just got back from vacation this week (from :snowboarding: in Big Sky, Montana, which was awesome), and I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather, so I’ve decided to punt on my “Data Model” post for another two weeks. In lieu of that post, which I want to be a more technical powerhouse, I’ve decided to divert once more away from technology and discuss one of my favorite tech blog posts: Fire and Motion.

I won’t rehash much of the post here, cause it’s not long and it’s better written than anything I could do, so if you haven’t read it yet just do that and come back. Don’t worry, I’ll wait…

Anyway, Joel’s point is one that I think applies to everything in life, and it’s a motto I’m trying to apply to barkeep as much as possible. Side projects are hard to work on while you work a full time job. Some days I’m burnt out after a day of zoom meetings, and staring at more Rails code is about as appealing as scratching my eyes out. Other days I’ve got plans with friends or family. And other days I’m just back from an amazing vacation and coding is the least of my concerns. On those days, I still try to contribute something, anything, to my project, just to keep up that “fire and motion”.

Rails actually makes this pretty easy most of the time, which is going to be a major positive factor in my upcoming Rails posts. There’s always a minor tweak to a model I could make, or a small feature I can whip up super fast, when you have the full power of Rails fully downloaded in your head.

But more than that, I believe the philosophy of Fire and Motion applies to everything. I enjoy weight lifting, and have invested in a home gym that I love. By most definitions I’m not strong, but that’s not even the point. I’m chasing Slow Gains. These simple habits of continuous improvement are much easier to foster than life changing conversions, and when you look back on them the satisfaction is all the same. As long as I’m building something I want (and hopefully other people eventually want), and I’m always making some progress, then time is on my side.

On that note, I’m getting back to barkeep as we speak. I’ve got a laundry list of potential features to build and to write about:

Faceting with Postgres full text search (and the changes to my data model that that will require)
Beefing up my infrastructure skills by trying out deploying barkeep closer to the metal. I pay ~$12 for hosting and database infra today, but I get almost no hardware for it. For a business I’d like to run forever on my own, I need to keep costs low.
Converting my front end to a real framework, and whether that’s even worth it
Doing the boring work to build up the value of my data, and ensuring that that data is safe once it does have value
Computer vision to recognize your available bottles!

Last week’s post: Introducing Barkeep

Next week’s post: The importance of your data model