“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”
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IGF deadline was yesterday! Did I make it in time? No. Obviously. Come on people, context clues!
So this is the second deadline I missed this year. (The first one was for Indiecade, whose submission window had been moved up.) I don’t feel that bad about it though because I got really far in the submission process. My app is up in the google play store awaiting approval. A few days before the deadline I realized that the chance I’d finish in time was very very low, so I chilled out a bit. I don’t want to stress out for no reason. Additionally I’m going on a trip this week and I’ve done next to zero preparation for it, so I knew I needed to carve out a large chunk of my weekend to devote to that.
Where I went wrong:
- I didn’t code freeze early enough. I was still making tweaks and bug fixes up until about a week ago.
- I underestimated how long it would take me to figure out the Play Store’s upload process and decipher error messages.
- I didn’t think I needed a privacy policy because I don’t track anything. This was wrong. So I had to figure all that out and add one at the last minute.
- I didn’t think I’d need app approval for an internal release (but I suppose it makes sense).
- I didn’t plan ahead far enough for my vacation which mean running out at the last minute trying to buy the right clothes and items which if I had done earlier wouldn’t have impacted my pre-release weekend.
- The IGF deadline wasn’t on my radar until submissions were already open. It was pretty low stakes target. I basically used it to push myself because someone else’s deadline seems so much realer than your own.
Where I went right:
- I didn’t kill myself trying to do it. This is my hobby and something I’m doing for fun. I’m usually working on it after a full day of work so I’m already 70% exhausted when I come to the table. I kept thinking to myself, am I trying hard enough? I could stay up til the wee hours of the morning and bang this thing out. I’ve done it plenty back in school, and even at work to hit deadlines. But over the years I’ve learned that it takes so much longer to complete any task, even a simple one, when you’re super tired, and the work isn’t your best, AND you’re gonna be super cranky tomorrow at work. So will I ever push myself that hard for Fair Weather? Sure, probably. But it’s not necessary right now. So I’m going to choose the healthy and sane route as long as I can.