I’m a software guy. I like to build stuff and solve problems.
I am lucky to work for a company that gives me the ability to solve hard, interesting problems on a daily basis. However, I regularly wish that the “I work for a company” part was “I created something”. I took an idea and built it from scratch. No I’m not quitting my real job - that would be absurd, but I wanted to scratch an itch.
So… I did. I created jottpad. Yes, it’s another list app. They are everywhere, search the app store on an iOS device and you’ll have a plethora of choices. But this list app is different - it is my list app - I built it. I know how it works, why it works the way it works, and I can morph it into whatever I want. This list app is for me, well me & my wife - it was her idea.
It’s 5:47pm on Thursday. You’re still hard at work in front of your computer and you get a text.
Wife - “I’m on my way home from work & I’m stopping at the store. Do you need anything?”
Me - “Nope, I’m good. See ya soon.”
It’s 7:34am on Friday, next morning. I walk into the bathroom to brush my teeth - no toothpaste.
Guess I needed something.
I go into the kitchen to make breakfast - out of bread & bananas - now how am I going to make a peanut butter & banana sandwich.
Guess I needed something else.
This is not a difficult problem - the day before I knew I was out of toothpaste, bread & bananas but I didn’t record it anywhere. Sure I made a mental note - but my recollection failed me when my wife called and asked if I needed anything.
simplelyst was born. I’ve got an iPhone, when I run out of toothpaste I open simplelyst and add it to the “Stuff I ran out of and need if you go to the store on the way home on Thursday list” - or something like that. You get the idea. You run out of stuff, you immediately add it to a list - no forgetting the next day.
Alright, that is all well and good. Now when my wife calls I can open up my list and read off all the stuff I need her to pickup from the store. Next problem. What if my list is largish - 10+ items. No way she is going to remember all that. Plus I’ve already got this nice list app with checkboxes and everything - but I’ve reverted to reading her a list over the phone. Awwww ha, I’ll email her the list. Well this is better but still no way to cross off/check off - somehow record the action of getting the items on the list.
Wow, this was so much easier when we just wrote stuff down on a piece of paper. Went to the store with our shopping list, and crossed things off as they went in the cart.
Hmm, that’s the behavior we wanted. A physical representation of the list available to either of us whenever we go to the store. Well, we both have iPhones with us at all times & simplelyst.com works on the iPhone. I know, I’m smart, I’ll just share the list I created.
Voila, now my wife can login to simplelyst.com, see all her lists & the list I created. Problem solved. Physical representation of the list.
Umm, so I know what you’re thinking. Rick, you built a list app of which there are hundreds & you added sharing - which isn’t revolutionary. And you wrote a post about it thinking somebody would care.
Well yeah, like I said, this list app is different - it is my list app - I built it. I know how it works, why it works the way it works, and I can morph it into whatever I want. This list app is for me, well me & my wife - it was her idea. Use it if you want. I’ll keep making it better & the 1st step in that direction is creating a native iOS app…