After the dust settled…
The beta was launched and the reviews were mixed. Some had headaches with the install. Some reported great success and excitement. And some were under-whelmed.
What to do…
Failing Forward
I wouldn’t call this a failure by any stretch, but it also didn’t meet my over-blown expectations.
But this is one of those cases of “nothing ventured nothing gained.”
Creating software for the masses is extremely difficult. But I already knew this.
Rather than tweaking a few things, I need to go back, analyze some critical elements and revamp.
First Impressions Are 90% of Everything
Those that had an easy install experience were generally pretty enthusiastic about the product. Those that struggled with it seemed turned off from the start.
That’s how it is. I knew all along that the install had to be easy and flawless. That’s where the first impression is made.
Unfortunately, I didn’t predict all the ways that folks would try to install the software. This beta test gave me some new info and I can go back and improve things dramatically.
I’ll Be Back
Time to sharpen the old pencil and see what I can do.
Thank you to everyone that went through the install of the beta test and gave me feedback.
Michael MacDonald says:
September 20th, 2006 at 6:23 am
Don’t be so hard on yourself Jack. Despite my initial installation problems I’m quite impressed with what you have created. I think critics should bear in mind that this is a beta release and the purpose is to provide Jack with useful feedback to help improve the product.
jackborn says:
September 20th, 2006 at 8:49 am
Michael,
Thanks for the comment. I guess my post sounded a little down, but what I was really trying to do was be completely honest.
Past projects of various sizes have taught me that creating code for my own use takes about 1/10 the time it takes to create code for mass consumption.
I’m very happy to hear that you were impressed with the cms… others were too.
I’ve already made quite a few changes to the system and so this is what I meant by “failing forward”. My first instinct is to tweak and tweak and tweak until something is ‘perfect’ before putting it out for folks to use… which is the opposite of what I need to do.
That’s why I finally forced myself into action with a public deadline.
As seen here, the real valuable information comes when the software is used and bugs are found.
In closing, everything’s moving forward and I appreciate everyone’s feedback and support.
Phunky says:
September 20th, 2006 at 9:45 am
I deleted the invite email
was middle of the night when i saw it and just got rid 
any chance of resending the invite to the address in this comment.
please
jackborn says:
September 20th, 2006 at 9:49 am
Sure. Will do.
austin says:
October 5th, 2006 at 2:24 am
can i have an invite? i want to help out with this project. Thanks
Ryan says:
October 20th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
I’d be curious to check this out as well. I use Drupal to deploy company and personal sites of various uses at the moment and honestly can’t imagine anything better. So I’d be happy to look at the code and see where your project might benefit from the collective minds of the Drupal developers.
ryan says:
November 22nd, 2006 at 10:00 am
I just found out about this and I am quite intrigued. Right now I am using EE for all of my content management needs, but I feel that it takes too much work to get it to do the things that I want it to…
Will you be opening it up to more beta testers?
Tarwin says:
November 28th, 2006 at 1:40 am
I tried to add my name/email to your mailing list but I was just sent to some advertising site. Can you add me now ?
jackborn says:
November 30th, 2006 at 11:56 am
Tarwin, I just tested it out and appears to be working. What site did you get sent to?
James says:
January 30th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
Too late for an invite? I would love to be able to contribute.
I tried adding my name/email to your mailing list as well, and was redirected to http://www.aweber.com/
Cheers!