2023: Week 03
Saying fairwell, engaging in the feedback loop and revisiting Minmail’s name .
Departing a day job
Toward the end of November I made the call to hand in my resignation at my day job. Not because Minmail had become so profitable that it was already covering my expenses (I wish!), but because it didn’t feel like a good fit. The culture (the actual, not the intended) didn’t agree with me and I often found myself feeling frustrated.
While it was a relief to get out of that environment, it was also a shame, as my fellow engineering colleague was truly a joy to work with. I’ve no doubt we’ll keep in touch and I hope we get to work together again on something.
This departure is part of the reason there was no update last week. Put simply, I was overwhelmed. I spent the past couple of weeks trying hard to wrap up things I was working on with the company, as well as ensure there was adequate documentation for all the features I’d built and infrastructure I’d put in place. On top of that, I was trying to address all the feedback on Minmail before I go away next week.
Acting on feedback
There’s been plenty to do since I invited the first customers to start using Minmail. I’ve focused heavily on bug fixes and improvements to the UI. There have been 20+ updates affecting authentication flow, onboarding, profile creation and general UI behaviour in the Minbox. The feedback has been incredibly valuable and I’m looking forward to inviting the next round of users. If you’re interested, let me know by using the form below.
A devisive name
This week I noticed that I had purchased minbox.me just before Christmas, but had no real recollection of doing so. Minbox was one of the two names I was deciding between back when the service was just a prototype, just over two years ago. I decided to ask a few people which they preferred and every one of them had a strong opinion one way or the other. It currently sits at a 50/50 split. I think I’ll need to pose the question to a broader audience and see what that does to the numbers. Whichever way it goes, both domains will be available to Minmail’s (Minbox’s?) customers when creating their profiles — at no additional cost.
The week ahead
As mentioned, I’ll be away for a few days next week, taking some time to reset and re-evaluate. I’ll be without my laptop, so little/nothing will be worked on and there will probably be nothing to report. The next update will be 2023: Week 5.
Stay tuned.
