In my year and a half hiatus from posting here, I continued to lurk and follow the goings-on in the microISV community. One thing I noticed is that not much changed. The same topics continue to be asked in a slightly different way, people come and people go….some people come back. I think this will always be the case because the microISV community is such a small niche and the very nature is that people work alone.

The one issue that still sticks out is that there aren’t more people getting ahead. The two causes seem to be a lack of motivation and lack of results. A lot of times, these two things create a never-ending circle where lack of one begets lack of the other. This is essentially what happened here at the site, life took over and the rewards hadn’t previously been big enough to create the motivation to return to the site once my time was freed up. Here’s how the post a few days ago came about and it is a good testament to how one simple thing can get the ball rolling again.

Two years ago I modified a VBScript that was posted to Lifehacker.com and sent my update to the Editor, Gina Trapani. She posted the updated version of the script and even included it in her book. Fast forward to late last week when I made some updates to the script for my personal use and decided to once again send the update to Gina where she in turn posted it to Lifehacker. When she linked to microISV, the number of visitors went way up and seeing this inspired me to post again.

If you’re suffering from a lack of motivation or stuck in a rut, find one simple thing that will help jump start your microISV. Pick something small in your app that has been nagging you or can be improved with just a small change, preferably something you can complete in one day. Do NOT implement a completely new feature.  That may provide a big bang but could also make the mountain seem that much higher to hike. Below are five ideas to help you get going again.

1. Document your code - This will allow you to quickly go over the code in your app and see things that you may not have seen in months or even years
2. Set up Google Analytics - You’ll be motivated to see the counter in the Goals section increase
3. Remove a seldom used feature - Sometimes taking things away can be just as beneficial as adding something new
4. Improve your error handling - Get rid of the generic error handlers and replace them with something that could help your user help themselves.
5. Refactor redundant sections of code - The more succinct your code, the less room for errors to creep in

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 6:49 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

In my year and a half hiatus from posting here, I continued to lurk and follow the goings-on in the microISV community. One thing I noticed is that not much changed. The same topics continue to be asked in a slightly different way, people come and people go….some people come back. I think this will always be the case because the microISV community is such a small niche and the very nature is that people work alone.

The one issue that still sticks out is that there aren’t more people getting ahead. The two causes seem to be a lack of motivation and lack of results. A lot of times, these two things create a never-ending circle where lack of one begets lack of the other. This is essentially what happened here at the site, life took over and the rewards hadn’t previously been big enough to create the motivation to return to the site once my time was freed up. Here’s how the post a few days ago came about and it is a good testament to how one simple thing can get the ball rolling again.

Two years ago I modified a VBScript that was posted to Lifehacker.com and sent my update to the Editor, Gina Trapani. She posted the updated version of the script and even included it in her book. Fast forward to late last week when I made some updates to the script for my personal use and decided to once again send the update to Gina where she in turn posted it to Lifehacker. When she linked to microISV, the number of visitors went way up and seeing this inspired me to post again.

If you’re suffering from a lack of motivation or stuck in a rut, find one simple thing that will help jump start your microISV. Pick something small in your app that has been nagging you or can be improved with just a small change, preferably something you can complete in one day. Do NOT implement a completely new feature.  That may provide a big bang but could also make the mountain seem that much higher to hike. Below are five ideas to help you get going again.

1. Document your code - This will allow you to quickly go over the code in your app and see things that you may not have seen in months or even years
2. Set up Google Analytics - You’ll be motivated to see the counter in the Goals section increase
3. Remove a seldom used feature - Sometimes taking things away can be just as beneficial as adding something new
4. Improve your error handling - Get rid of the generic error handlers and replace them with something that could help your user help themselves.
5. Refactor redundant sections of code - The more succinct your code, the less room for errors to creep in

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2007 at 6:49 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.