rob blog.

I’ve done my own startups and have worked on other people’s startups. I’ve been increasingly around the lean startup methodology (if you’re in Chicago, you should definitely join the Lean Startup Circle) where one researches a problem, proposes a solution, and pivots due to customer feedback. In this methodology, you are reasonably sure that people will use the product that you’ve created.

On the other hand there is the idea of scratching your own itch. You know that it’s an problem that you, yourself have had and you sure as hell wish there was a solution to the problem. So you create your own.

And without further ado, I introduce Packio

Dude, I Hate Packing

Speaking of scratching you’re own itch, my friend Jason Pearl, a Rails developer here in Chicago, sent me an IM one day. He complained that he hates packing. He either packs too much or too little. He proposed that we work on an app to solve the problem. Originally, I was skeptical &emdash; in part because I have a lot to do without solving the world’s packing problems &emdash; but the more I thought about it, I realized that it’s a problem that I have as well. I am probably the world’s biggest overpacker. Biggest. You know that show Hoarders? I’m like that with packing. I take everything.

Scratching Your Own Itch

So yeah, we started Packio. It is, in part, a way to solve our own problems with packing. It’s also a way to do something fun.

Perhaps, most importantly, it’s a way to build something great over time.

How it works

Basically, the way Packio works is:

• You enter your Destination
• You enter when you get there and when you leave
• You enter your gender
• THEN
• Packio gives you a list of what you should pack based on what the weather is like where you’re going

We also give you a private link that you can use to come back to your packing list whenever you want. We also let you share a non-editible list via facebook and twitter. You wanna share the best thing to pack for Denver for Thanksgiving? Go right ahead.

Get it out there and iterate over time

I’ve worked on my share of personal projects thus far, and many of them just run out of steam. At first you’re just super excited about the idea &emdash; but over time other stuff just gets in the way. Something that helps is the concept of MVP. Minimum Viable Product. You get something out there that’s juuuuuuussssttttt enough to be usable. Otherwise, you try to work on it until it’s perfect. But it’s never perfect. And it never gets finished. This even happens to real companies. See this Wired article on Duke Nukem>.

With Packio, we wanted to get something out there fast. Something that was useful and fun. It isn’t even that original of an idea &emdash; Weather.com has provided a similar service for years &emdash; but in a way that doesn’t really scratch out itch.

We’ve gotten tons of great feedback. A lot of it is stuff that we totally expected. Some of it not. Unfortunately, when we started, the API we’re using would only let us get 6 days of weather information at time. Of course that’s not enough for more than figuring out what to pack for a weekend trip or a really short immediate holiday.

But that’s what’s great about iterating over time. We can constantly push new features. As soon as we get a better weather API, we’ll change the application and push it live (actually, very soon you should be able to have 15 days for everywhere in the world ). Every time we make an improvement to our packing algorithm, it’ll find its way to the web post haste.

Don’t only scratch your own itch, make yourself happy while doing it

When you work on client projects day in and day out, there are all sorts of neat things that you’d like to do but would never fly with management. Or the other developers. That’s another great reason to get something you like online. You can have all the fun in the world with it because it’s yours. Packio has a really nice looking print stylesheet. It’s got all sorts of whimsical bells and whistles. If you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you’ll find a little monster. Hover over him and he’ll hop. Send your list via email and the little monster destroys a village. Necessary? No. Fun? Yes.

So, while Packio is still a work in progress, I thought this might be inspiring to anyone else working on a little hobby app. Just get it out there, appreciate the expected feedback, and iterate that sucker to make it awesome.

Tags: mvp, packio, rails, toy apps, web applications