Versions and Adoption
And there was frustration from the Users who weren't yet supposed to exist.
A rough timeline of the evolution of the tool. From memory.
We'll see the real details later.
Prototype (Q4 2017)
I knocked out a single-purposed Angular and Python gizmo based off a few notecard sketches in a weekend at home in the holiday season of 2017.
Showed the prototype to M, creating a series of non-handwritten, well-formed exam sheets.
No more hand-slamming, ill-tempered Examiners:
If I could deploy it somewhere.
Alpha (Q1 2018)
A micro Google Cloud Linux instance served the thing, and M & I could both use the default Angular interface in the real world.
This gizmo leaked through to the other potential 5 Users, and hit 100% adoption — 7 for 7 — by the end of the week.
And there was frustration from the Users who weren't yet supposed to exist.
Whoops.
Let's call that a positive sign, and get to work, no?
Beta (Q1 2018)
- Improved GUI.
- R&D: Google Sheets integration
Flagship v1 & CORE v1 (Q1 2018)
- Full release of a single-purpose, web-based application.
- R&D: Automated SMS Reminders
Chrome Extension v1 (Q1 2018)
- Full release of a supporting tool for the complete solution.
- Shipped with known bugs.
Flagship v2 (Q1/2 2018)
- Major GUI improvements.
- Wired to a datastore. (More on that major technical debt later.)
- R&D: computer vision
Flagship v2.1.n & CORE v2 (Q2 2018)
- Changed datastores because I needed to.
- Speed boost of, oh, 600x or more as a result.
Chrome Extension v3.1.51 (Q3 2018)
- Major GUI improvements. (Now in Angular, too.)
- Major bugfixes.
- More like v3.n.103 because I kept failing on something not too difficult.
CORE v2.3+ (Q3 2018)
- Automated reporting.
- Automated billing.
- Bugfixes.
- Minor features.
That's about where it stands today.
I gained enough feedback from Users, used it for hundreds of hours myself, and received the sharp feedback from the check-writers to know where I want to take the tools and the company.
When I recapitulate all proper-like, we'll see how my memory did.
This roughly matches other folks' solo and team projects where they get more adoption faster than expected then need to iterate to dispel their foolish assumptions. I take that as a good sign.
