Seize the storm

This month was probably the worst for me – I didn’t get as many hours in as I would have liked.   I did finish the re-tool on the guts of the program.   This leaves about three large things left to do before I would feel comfortable with a beta.   I just hate being so vague – it’s not in my nature.   So if we name these things A, B, and C.   “A” has four sub-things that I need to do.   I’m finishing up the first.   After all that is done, I still have to set up a new website.   Hopefully I’ll have time for that while the beta team gets going.

There has been some rumored interest of investing in my product but I’ve done my best so far to work with what I have.   It might be sort of a pride issue  - I want this to be all  my work that  I did from the ground up.   I’ve already realized that I won’t be able to do some of the website and graphic stuff but I’ve found a few people I can count on.   There were some other times too when I just wanted to give up.   But where would we be if every inventor/entrepeneur gave up?

Development is now over 160 hours – but what does that mean, right?   Well, I’ve implemented a completely new feature.   It didn’t take too long to implement and though I’m happy it’s implemented and the feature will give people a better sense of organization –  the feature doesn’t do as much as I wished it would.   The root of the problem there is more related to standards of acceptable use of the feature.   I wish I could divulge more – but you know how that goes.

I delved into a new feature about a week ago, drawing out some design on my new whiteboard (my first actual business purchase – hahaha).   As I sat down at my computer, I realized the need to go back to the guts of my program and restructure the settings portion.   This rewrite is now complete however it broke a bunch of stuff in other areas, which is natural when messing with such a core feature.   Cliche alert – sometimes you have to rebreak the bone to get it to heal straight (or however that goes).   I am really excited about this though, because how I’ve restructured the settings of Photo Ops has set me up for the true heart of where I want to go with the program.

All this rewriting is pretty painful for me, and really for any developer – as we’re admitting to ourselves that the initial design wasn’t good enough.   Closer to release, I will be facing a similar battle when I go back and fight the efficiency monster.   There are some portions of the program that seem to lag, so  I will be going back and fine-tuning the feature as I know P.O. is not going to be running on Pentium 4′s all the time.

My family and friends are continually asking how things are going and I always reply, “I’ve got so much more to do, but it’s coming along.”

Photo Ops development is coming along nicely – I’m averaging 2.5 hours a night.   However, this last month has been plagued with a lot of things getting in the way of me developing – such as the trip to Germany and this weekend I was at a fishing tournament.   I only managed to get another 30 hours onto development since my last update.   It’s really difficult to spur myself on at times.   I have my own fun hobbies I like to do and sometimes I just want a break from everything and have some mindless fun, releasing a lot of stress.   I think Wednesdays are definitely not days to develop on – hump day is just too tiring.   However, Saturdays (if I can get one where we stay home) are AWESOME – usually getting at least 6 hours.

On the positive side, I am nearly complete with a huge enhancement to the watermark portion.   Sadly, I have at least another 100 hours of development to do – that includes the rest of the program, the website, the installer, etc.   I have started a little bit more of an official process –  getting in contact with a graphic designer to do the icons and graphics for the program & website.   I am also getting myself ready legally – last week I visited with a local lawyer who will forward me onto an intellectual property attorney.   Finally, I switched the name of the program again – I’ll let the I.P.A. do my searching and stuff on that.   Other than that, continue to stay tuned…thanks again for your patience.