Helium Foot Software

First Post

First Post! For the most part, this post is for posterity since no one knows that this site (or the company behind it) even exists. If you're reading this now, then you can say you knew me when.

Helium Foot strives to create simple power tools for Mac power users; the kind of software that makes you feel powerful, and makes your Mac more fun to use. We will soon release our first app MyWi. Our blog will cover our software (obviously) and will also give our readers some insight into the process of developing, releasing and marketing shareware for fun and profit.

Thanks for listening.

The sound of Getting Things Done

So i caught the Getting Things Done bug. Basically, this project to start an indie software shop was getting nowhere fast. With a (lovely!) wife, two (delightful!) small children, a (very decent?) day job and a fair amount of the (no comment) drama that i call life (that's what you call that drama, too, isn't it??) i just wasn't getting anywhere with my one app, much less with starting a company. Having heard of gtd ("Getting Things Done" for the uninitiated) i thought i'd give it a try. After my first failed foray, powered almost entirely by google, i broke down and bought the book . The prose wasn't as bad as i thought it would be, and it really did help me set up a working system to keep on top of everything i need to get done. After working on it for about six weeks, i had a working system that was starting to pay off. Now, about 3 months into this odyssey it's definitely working for me.

This is not a profound life changing sort of metamorphosis. Really, i'm just better able to prioritize, and better able to see everything i do holistically. The result for my whole life? Let's just say that my wife enjoys the fact then when i say i'll pick the kids up, she doesn't have to worry about them getting stranded. The result for Helium Foot? It's been a little mixed. gtd has made me much more productive. Unfortunately, most of the time that i've gained has thus far gone elsewhere. There is hope however! During the past two weeks, i dedicated a few blocks of at least an hour and was able to put together a working registration system! I'm going to go out on a limb here and lay down my birthday as my self imposed deadline to get a MyWi beta out the door. If i make it, then i'll tell you when my birthday is.

How I Get Things Done

Here's my system for Getting Things Done. My goal with this system is unsurprisingly to get things done. As such, i'm trying to have as little overhead as possible.

How I Do It:

Project lists:

I have two. "Projects" and "Projects (sleeping)". I'm not sure how much bang i'm getting for keeping them separate, but i like having the division. Currently, these lists are in the form of slips of paper in (nicely labeled!) manilla folders. Using the folders is actually more trouble than it's worth so one of my projects is to migrate to a text file based system. I review these two lists each week during my weekly review to determine if: 1 any item needs to go onto a project list

1. any item needs to get transferred from sleeping to current
2. any item needs to get deleted from a project list
3. the next action for each project is reflected on the next actions list

Action lists:

My main project lists are my action list and my "waiting for" list. Both of these are just text files stored on my idisk (so that i can see them while at home and at work). Recently, i started keeping additional lists to keep track of things i need to in specific projects (such as get MyWi to beta and start Helium Foot Inc.). These lists serve as a bucket to dump arbitrary tasks into and mostly i just use them as a place to put actions that are not "the next action".

Weekly Review:

This is possibly the most important part of my system. I'm a total believer. Every monday night, i go through my inbox (mostly unopened mail to file or bills to pay.) Next I review my notepad. Anything that i can do really quickly (ostensibly in two minutes or less, but i'm not religious about that number) i'll do, otherwise i'll put something in one of my lists (next action, projects, MyWi beta, etc). Next i cross the item out of my notebook which is more fun than i'll admit to here. After the notepad, i get my next action, and waiting for lists in shape by removing items that i've completed, updating what the next action for a project is, or moving items between lists. Finally, i review every item on my projects and project (sleeping) lists.

Notepad:

To capture thoughts and ideas as they come to me i cary a standard issue spiral notebook. It's pocket sized (usually in the left hip pocket of my cargo pants) and flips open from the top like an old school trek communicator. I started out writing only one item on each page, but i was spending too much time and money at staples so i've gone to one item per line with no adverse effects. I don't sweat it if i don't have my notepad on me for some reason and i need to write something down. If it's important, it will come back to me.

Filing System:

My filing system has moved from one half of the top surface of the dresser that i share with my wife, to one filing cabinet drawer. Although this is probably the least important part of my system ,i do appreciate being able to find those errant pieces of paper that used to elude me. Everything in my filing system is in a manilla folder with a printed label.

What Doesn't Work:

I'm still struggling with a few things

• Getting something done at a specific time
• The lag time between when something goes into my notebook and when it gets onto my next action list or calendar. This is especially problematic for something that comes up during the day, that i need to get done quickly.

Finally, GTD, will not suddenly give you time in which to do things. You still have to make that time.

What Does Work:

My favorite parts of the system are the weekly review and pocket notebook. The effect of these two tools alone are worth the price of admission.

As i said above, this system did not suddenly give me all of the time that i need to get my things done. I still need to make that time. To that end, I put an appointment on my calendar at 2 pm for every weekday. At that time (or some number of 15 minute snoozes after that) i'll take 15 minutes and do one item from my next action list.

Finally, i'll give the gentle reader this advice: Get the freakin' labeler. I resisted the electronic labeler, thinking that it was an optional and decadent purchase. What i know now, is that it is a critical and decadent purchase. If you're a geek (and come on, who else would be reading this) then you'll want to label things just to use the labeler.

New Rig

I ordered it the day they were announced. It took about a week to get here. Then i've been too busy "working" with it to write this post. Without further ado, here is our latest arrival in all of it's 24", 2x2.4GHz, 3GB, 256MB, 0.5TB glory:

The photo credit goes to my very lovely wife. Now if i can just find the time to finish my custom implementation of Sparkle, then beta will be mine!

Spam Away

I'm trying out a new spam filter, so i'll open this post up for comments and trackbacks. If i don't attract any nastiness, then i'll open up these features for future posts.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to my loyal reader and to all of my customers, supporters, colleagues and mentors! This past year has been incredibly important for Helium Foot; we've launched both our business and our first product (MercuryMover) and have seen some very encouraging initial success. I see the next six months as being equally critical. During this time, my goal is to increase Helium Foot's profile in the Mac world. Hopefully, Helium Foot will be a company that your plugged-in Mac user will have heard of and news from us might interest the general Mac community. To that end, look for some exciting stuff from us soon like new releases, more marketing, podcasts, philanthropy and more. Watch this space.

Back From the Quiet

Hi Folks, i know it's been a while; but we've been quiet working on some of the great stuff that you'll see this week. We'll be releasing MercuryMover v1.1 (MercuryMover lets you move and resize your windows from your keyboard) and also announcing our new philanthropy program benefitting the National Cancer Coalition. I'll be back later this week to tell you more about both.

The Big Why

Alexandra Levit is an author and commentator who has worked very hard to become (in the words of her web site) "one of the premiere career spokespeople of her generation". She's written a few books and there's a good chance that you've heard her on the radio or seen her on tv. She's also a very good friend of mine. As someone who spends a LOT of time learning about working life, she's been both excited for and curious about this indy software endeavor. Over lunch a week or so ago, she asked me to elaborate a little on why i started Helium Foot and some of what i have learned. My blog sense started tingling and i've taken this opportunity to write about why i'm here, what i've learned, and little bit of where i'm going.

Before i open a can of introspection on you, first let me introduce you to Helium Foot Software. Our first product, MercuryMover, lets you move and resize windows on your Mac via your keyboard. MercuryMover perfectly embodies our mission of providing software to make your Mac more agile, more powerful and more fun.

The Why

My reasons to start Helium Foot are probably not very different from any other entrepreneur. When you get up and go to work every day, you want it to amount to something. As Helium Foot grows, its accomplishments are my accomplishments (and also its failures) and whatever edifice Helium Foot turns out to be, it will be one of my own building. I've worked for a few start ups (and who in the tech business hasn't) and i really longed to have the ownership over my work that really only comes from,well, ownership.

Another aspect of running your own show that really appealed to me was the terms under which you work. The terms are my own. For now that means working during all of my free time and late into the night, but my work fantasy is to be home every afternoon when my children come home from school and we'll all do our homework together around the dining room table. In this fantasy, i also have two fully decked out Mac Book Pros and my children both have ponies.

The What (I've learned)

The most important thing that i've learned is that in order to have your business, you have to start. period. I thought about striking out on my own for literally years before i actually did it. What i know now is that it takes a lot of time to build your own company. If i had started earlier, i'd be much closer to where i want to be.

The Where (I'm going)

I've REALLY enjoyed having my own company. I've learned a ton and, as corny as it sounds, it's very gratifying to build your own enterprise. However, the brass ring is be able to quit my day job and do this full time (sorry Paul [my day gig boss]). For now, i have a lot of growing to do.

One More Why

In a recent post i talked about some of the reasons why i wanted to start my own company. Another one that i really should have mentioned was my desire to take the company in any direction that i wanted to; in both obvious and non-obvious ways. From a technical perspective what i really want to be doing is Mac development using the best apis in the business. None of the daytime employers that i've had would support this. Even better than the technical choices that i can make, are the business and lifestyle ones. I wanted to do something a wee bit philanthropic with my life, so i started our program with the National Cancer Coalition. This includes our matching program that could see us give over 15% of our gross revenues to this excellent organization. Would "The Man" let me do that? He hasn't yet; but now that i'm The Man, i can.

CAWUG-bunga

I went to my first CAWUG (Chicago Cocoa and WebObjects User Group) meeting in four years last night and wanted to give a shout out to my fellow Chicago Cocoa Heads. Everyone that i met was very cool and much smarter than i am. Thanks for letting me join your party; i promise not to stay away for four more years.