{"id":487,"date":"2016-06-11T14:22:34","date_gmt":"2016-06-11T14:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joetannorella.com\/?p=487"},"modified":"2016-06-12T12:20:59","modified_gmt":"2016-06-12T12:20:59","slug":"uidb-io-priorities-june-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joetannorella.com\/uidb-io-priorities-june-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"UIDB.io Priorities for June 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"
10\/06\/2016<\/b><\/p>\n
Note: I originally wrote this post for myself as a Google Doc with no intention of publishing it on my own blog. However, I’ve decided to put it on here so I can openly receive\u00a0feedback and tell people my plans…<\/p>\n
A word of warning: not much effort has been put into editing this post as it was originally intended purely as a note\/reminder to myself.<\/p>\n
To establish a plan of action to take UIDB.io forward through to the end of June now that the site is live and getting visitors and feedback.<\/p>\n
If I ever find myself procrastinating or not sure what to work on, I will simply look at the actions at the end of this document and get straight to work, without question.<\/p>\n
This will keep me focussed.<\/p>\n
UIDB.io is live at http:\/\/UIDB.io<\/a>. It has over 200 UI examples posted, but they were basically all posted by myself. There are 5 Collections, but only 1 of these was created by a real user (thanks http:\/\/uidb.io\/hs5xrk<\/a>!). It\u2019s not too far from where I\u2019d like it to be feature-wise, but it\u2019s still not polished. I\u2019d probably call it a V0.90.<\/p>\n To-date UIDB has had just under 5000 unique visitors and nearly 25k pageviews:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n This is what those stats look like over time. This chart shows sessions vs time:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s how that\u2019s attributed to each channel:<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A big thanks to Speckyboy for featuring me at the top of their design weekly newsletter and post: https:\/\/speckyboy.com\/2016\/03\/14\/weekly-news-designers-n-325\/<\/a><\/p>\n Now that UIDB is live I want to get more visitors through the door and searching through UI examples and collections.<\/p>\n Equally though, and perhaps more importantly, I want to do a bit of a design polish. When I went live initially I clearly didn\u2019t put much effort into the interface design (ironic, isn\u2019t it?). That irony is also the reason I\u2019m going to put a little bit of time into improving the design; my users are generally designers, developers, and other techie-types\u2026 all of whom appreciate good design and good UX. If UIDB is horrible in terms of design and usability, then it devalues the brand and might turn people away from the site.<\/p>\n Most importantly of all:<\/p>\n I definitely suffer with \u201cshiny object syndrome\u201d… I.e. I lack focus at times. Writing my short-term plans and priorities down in this post is a form of accountability for me to ensure that I do not veer off track. Sometimes I\u2019ll think up some new functionality I need and build that into a side project, when it\u2019s completely unnecessary and there were better things I could have been doing, like actually trying to reach product\/market fit and get traction. I\u2019m determined not to veer off track too much with UIDB.<\/p>\n A note on priorities:<\/b><\/p>\n By creating a priority list for this month I am not forgoing the opportunity to be agile, and I am not saying that priorities are 100% set in stone until July 1st.<\/p>\n What writing this down is doing is giving me a list to work through when I\u2019m in need of some motivation for the project. All side projects inevitably encounter a period of loss of motivation, lack of drive to just do \u201cthe next thing\u201d, and most importantly of all – they make you encounter time when you\u2019re at your desk ready to crack on with the project, and you don\u2019t know what \u201cthe next thing\u201d to do even is (often ending up in analysis paralysis)!<\/p>\n The reasoning behind writing down my objectives here is to keep me on track and to ensure that I am working on the most valuable \u2018thing\u2019 at all times. It’ll remind what to do, and just as importantly what not to do.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a rough idea of what I think my priorities will be going forward. My use of the phrase \u201crough idea\u201d here is intentional; following on with being agile and the \u201clean\u201d mentality, I don\u2019t know what my priorities are going to be next month or in 6 months time as I\u2019m happy for my priorities to change, and I want to be reactive to the market, news, content, feedback, and so on.<\/p>\n Having said that, here\u2019s what I think the next 3 months will look like:<\/p>\n July\u2019s focus will be on iterating user feedback and making sure everything is in place ready for a full launch (ProductHunt, HN, etc.).<\/p>\n August will be about pushing forward everything that has been built, having faith in the site, and driving traffic to it via great content.<\/p>\n In September I really want to prove the value of the business and for it to start to show a lot of promise by this point. BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal): get designers from 5 \u2018household name\u2019 companies registered on UIDB.<\/p>\n Would you do things differently? After writing this and pondering it for a while, I’m conscious that I’m still not close enough to my users. As a result, and a quick fix, I’ve just published an on-site survey that looks like this:<\/p>\n <\/p>\nProgress so far:<\/b><\/h2>\n
Priorities this month:<\/b><\/h2>\n
June priority list:<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
Priorities going forward:<\/b><\/h2>\n
July:<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
August:<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
September:<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n
Feedback<\/h2>\n