November 26, 2007
Acquired Again
I always wanted to return to the world of self-employment, and in 2008 I'll be doing just that. I'm leaving behind steady paychecks and consistent work to follow my heart and focus on ideas that I'm passionate about. Here's to hoping it works.
Several months ago I started sharing my vision of a bug and issue tracker that I had been working on and hoped to eventually offer up as open-source. A lot has happened since then, and I’ve decided to take it from a free-time fling to a larger commitment. I’ll be leaving the day job at the end of the year to focus on building a business around the issue tracker. I’ll be doing a little freelancing to pay the bills, but I should have significantly more free-time for tracker development.
About the Issue Tracker
Deciding against open-source was difficult, and while it might disappoint some, I’m confident that it’s the right decision. However, given the retraction, I feel obligated to share my reasons.
- Paid Passion. I’ve always wanted to be able to spend my days “working” on things that I love. The idea of eventually making a living designing and building web applications for myself has been a dream for a while now. Unfortunately, passion isn’t enough. It needs time, and it will get much more time if it’s a facet of how I make a living.
- Dedicated Time. Taking the plunge into self-employment provides me with the flexibility and time I’ll need to pull it off. Working a full-time job and then coming home every night to squeeze in a few hours of development wasn’t enough. Going forward, I’ll be freelancing part-time and free up a significant amount of hours to dedicate to the issue tracker.
- Simplicity. I felt that life as an open-source application would only ensure mediocrity. Installing, hosting, and regularly updating a Rails application isn’t rocket science, but it’s not simple either. If simplicity is truly going to be an integral part of the issue tracker, expecting people to install it and host it themselves isn’t good enough.
- Sharing Ideas. This isn’t new. One of my original reasons for building the tracker was to have tangible examples of interface design that I could openly discuss without worrying about NDAs. I figured that even if I never managed to create something release-worthy, it would still be a valuable tool for sharing ideas. That’s still the case, and I fully intend to continue doing so. In fact, I expect that now I’ll be able to share even more.
What does that mean to you? When will it be ready? Right now, I’m really not sure. However, I’ll admit that I’ll be disappointed if it’s not publicly available sometime in May.
Personal Stuff & Freelancing
Of course there’s a personal side to this little leap of faith. Many moons ago I was self-employed, and I’ve always looked back on that time fondly. There’s something about creating stuff directly for and with the people who keep you in business that I really love. I knew I’d give it another whirl at some point, and now, with a little more experience, some good fortune, and an abundance of enthusiasm, the time is right.
Initially, the issue tracker is only one facet of my future, and it’s going to be secondary to the bill-paying projects for the foreseeable future. Fortunately, I’ve made a conscious effort to set aside some money and cut my costs so that I can live comfortably working part time. So, theoretically, I’ve cleared my schedule and should have plenty of dedicated free time in-between client work. Naturally, I eventually hope to focus exclusively on the tracker, but that’s too far into the future to worry about right now.
For now, I’m wrapping up my current obligations on EMC projects by day and trying to contain my enthusiasm at night. I feel prepared, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little uneasy. Leaving behind steady paychecks can be a little nerve-wracking to say the least. So, if you know of any projects that could use some information architecture or design assistance in the near future, I’d love to help.
Thanks
This is a small step in a hopefully very long journey, and I really want to thank everyone who’s helped convince me that I can pull this off. You all know who you are, and I wouldn’t be doing this without that encouragement. It’s exciting, but also a little nerve-racking at the same time. Chances are that if I discussed this decision with you at all, you played a bigger role than you probably realize. Thanks.
Hi. I’m Garrett Dimon, a freelance designer/developer in Dallas, TX. This is my site about people, design, and technology. I also write a column about web design and development for Digital Web Magazine. Still have questions? Feel free to .
Comments
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Welcome Back
November 26, 2007 at 08:21 PM by Noel HurtleyWelcome back to the world of freelancing. I’m looking forward to giving your issue tracker a whirl.
Congratulations!
November 26, 2007 at 08:21 PM by ScottCongrats Garrett!
Here’s wishing you a great fresh start. Since you’ve already done this before you know what to expect and I have no doubt that you’ll be out of the gate and kicking ass in no time flat. Looking forward to the Tracker app whenever you’re ready to unleash it on the world.
Go for it mate
November 26, 2007 at 08:28 PM by ucantblamemWatching the screenshots come into my feed-reader over the last few months has been a site for sore eyes and got me quite excited. There really is a need for something so simple and well designed as what you’ve been putting together and I’m sure you’ll find that there are a lot of other people who would agree!
Much like Shaun Inman’s mint, I think this things going to be awesome and second to none in ease of use (and I haven’t even used the thing yet).
Great decision - looking forward to it.
Glad you've seen the light
November 26, 2007 at 08:33 PM by Jed WoodCongrats on making the jump, Garrett. I made the same “half-time on my own applications and half-time contracting” leap about 6 months ago, and it’s been better than I could have hoped for.
Not that you need advice, but… my one bit of wisdom would be to lay down the law right up front that you’re not available for full-time gigs. You’ll get a lot of people asking you for it “for just a little while,” but your own projects will perpetually stay on the back burner if you don’t give them top priority.
Best of luck!
Congratulations! Welcome to the club!
November 26, 2007 at 08:36 PM by vanderwalI am quite happy for you. It is always a nice shift and change of focus to move to what your are passionate about.
Yes! I had a feeling this day would eventually come. Your app design skills are top notch and the bug tracker will surely be a tremendous product once launched. I’d offer you some advice on running a business, but you actually have more experience than me on that end of things, so you’re on yer own.
Congratulations!
November 26, 2007 at 09:19 PM by Jonathan SnookOf course, congratulations are in order! Best of luck back into the life of freelance. I have no doubt that you’ll be extremely busy. Just be sure not to let the client work overtake the personal projects. I know that one from experience!
Exciting news!
November 26, 2007 at 09:23 PM by Lisa McMillanWicked. I see success in your future with this project. I’ve been looking for an issue tracker that actually works for YEARS. I’m so happy YOU are going to be the one to give us one. If anyone can make something great for the web workers of the world, it’s you. Looking forward to seeing the product in action.
Just tell me when I can give you my money. :) Good luck!
Congrats Garrett! I’m very happy for you and I look forward to seeing if we end up working together on anything in the future. :)
While releasing the issue tracker as open source was a noble goal, I’m confident you’ve made the right decision here, particularly because of your third reason. Good luck going forward!
Great move Garrett- I have to say I open up your Application Interface Design PDF about 4x a week to look at the process you employed on the tracker so that I can remind myself what good thought and design looks like as I prepare to start down my own web app road.
Beware- however- I have loaded myself up with so much work to make sure the bills are paid, that I don’t foresee starting my app until spring sometime. I guess that’s plenty of time to refine refine refine.
Congratulations! I just made the same decision for 2008, so I’ll be rooting for you. Independent paid passion is a very good thing. Good luck.
Congratulations
November 27, 2007 at 07:18 AM by Larry WrightGreat news! From what I’ve seen here so far, this looks very promising. Best wishes, and congratulations on following your dream.
Congrats and Good Luck!
November 27, 2007 at 08:25 AM by bethThis looks like an exciting venture, and with all the time you’ll be pouring into it I’m sure your tracker app will turn out awesome.
Congratulations and good luck. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head about what going open source would mean. I personally find it much more interesting and valuable that you are sharing in-depth the design decisions.
Godspeed, Sir!
November 27, 2007 at 11:13 AM by Joshua BrewerTo further echo the above comments, Congratulations! This is surely an exciting moment and I am certain it will yeild much fruit (personally and financially).
I am truly excited to get oven more insight into your design approach and solutions. You have been a great inspiration thus far and I look forward to the things to come.
Good luck.
Best of luck! We'll be watching you!
November 27, 2007 at 12:22 PM by Javier JulioGarrett I’m happy to see you are doing what you really want too. I think this is a very smart move. Your best posts have by far been the ones on the Issue Tracker. Believe it or not it has taught me a lot about UI and making an effort to keep things simple. I love what you have sketched/prototyped over the past few months and I think you will reap the benefits. As I always say keep the blog posts coming. I check daily for updates!
Nice
November 27, 2007 at 12:25 PM by Joshua LaneCongrats on the impending switch!
Me too have enjoyed your writings about the Tracker during the last months. I am sure you are doing the right thing to focus on what you truely like doing. I am looking forward reading more about your progress. Good luck!
Thanks!
November 27, 2007 at 04:52 PM by Garrett DimonThanks everyone. I’m really looking forward to being able to focus and invest time in ideas that I’ve been sitting on for so long. I appreciate the encouragement.
Good on ya
November 28, 2007 at 07:56 AM by Andy RutledgeRunning start, both feet, over the precipice. Do what you know is right and very best of luck, Garrett.
Congratulations!
November 28, 2007 at 12:28 PM by Tom WatsonI’m excited for you. I remember our conversations in Portland earlier this year so it’s great to see it becoming a reality. Good luck!
Exciting times.
November 29, 2007 at 05:16 AM by Phil ThompsonI’m sure I’m not the only one really looking forward to this bug tracking system being launched. I see it taking off in much the same way as Shaun Inman’s Mint did and it could also be the perfect compliment to the tools on offer from 37 signals.
Good luck.
Excellent
December 02, 2007 at 06:44 PM by Nate KoechleyI’m happy for you! Always wise to follow your passions. I look forward to being a customer, and hopefully a client from time to time too.
best, nate
Simplicity
December 05, 2007 at 11:30 PM by Corey TragerI’m the author of a free, open source bug tracker (BugTracker.NET), so these posts on the development of your tracker are especially interesting to me.
Your tracker seems somewhat like FogBugz in that it is simple, uncluttered, conversational. FogBugz has been a big inspiration for my tracker. I’m wondering, are you familiar with FogBugz and how specifically to you intend to differ from it?
Here’s what happened to me: I also started with the idea of creating a clean, streamlined, simple tracker, just for my needs, and then I published it as open source. So, I did, and then other people started using it and they would say, “I really like it, but I’d like it even more if it could do just this one extra thing”. So, feeling flattered, grateful for the attention, and eager to please, I’d stretch my code to do that one extra thing. After five years of this, my tracker, while still simple in the spectrum of trackers (compare Jira, Bugzilla), is a lot LESS simple than it was.
The area with the most explosive potential to destroy the simplicity is permissions. A Another way of saying this is, who is going to use this tracker? A small team of developers and testers internally, my original target audience? I don’t think you even need a permission system for that. A software house writing software, maybe collaboratively, for different clients? You at least need to keep one client from seeing another client’s issues. An open source project which wants to collect even anonymous bug reports from its potentially thousands of users? So, that requires a scheme where some people can report bugs, but not change the status or the assignment.
I have my own blog about my tracker, and a running theme is how to preserve the simplicity while still making it flexible enough to be useful in different settings. This is a post about things I didn’t plan for, things my tracker can’t do: http://www.ifdefined.com/blog/post/2007/11/Eating-my-own-dog-food.aspx
I see you do know FogBugz....
December 05, 2007 at 11:41 PM by Corey TragerI found this old post of yours: http://v1.garrettdimon.com/archives/bug-issue-tracking
So, even FogBugz is too complex? What specifically would you remove?
Also, you made a statement back then that you might want to retract: “I have yet to talk to anyone who is using a bug tracker and happy with it. They all feel exactly the same way I do.”
There are for sure people who really LOVE Trac, Fogbugz, Jira. Try googling “love Trac”, etc to see for yourself.
There are even folks who like my tracker: http:/ifdefined.com/bugtrackernetotherssay.html
Thanks!
December 06, 2007 at 09:01 AM by Garrett DimonCorey - Thanks for sharing. I’m not going to go into the plan for being different from FogBugz, but I do believe it’s too complex for a certain audience. I believe it’s great for others.
As far as my earlier statement, I don’t see a need for a retraction because that statement is still true. I have yet to talk to anyone who is using a bug tracker and happy with it. They tolerate them, but they don’t love them. I don’t doubt that those people exist, but I have yet to encounter them.
Ultimately, I don’t expect to be everything to everyone. I don’t expect that anyone using Trac or FogBugz will switch. Some people and teams need the things that they offer, but there are plenty more that don’t. At least, that’s why I’m hoping.