Dashron

Joined 15 years ago

Karma
30
Submissions
23
Member since
Apr 21
Aaron Hedges, API Product manager, and web developer by night. Fascinated by developer experience in web frameworks, API SDKs, and APIs themselves.
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Recent submissions

Comment · 3 months ago
When I switched from engineering to product, I tried a bunch of different user insight tools. They all had their strengths and weaknesses, but they always felt... off. They gathered feedback well but it wasn't easy to answer the questions I was asking, and it was a huge chore to keep it organized.

So I hacked on https://inputbuffer.io and just opened it to a wider audience.

You hook up your user feedback source (via widget or API) and it will organize everything by content category (e.g. billing) or target (e.g. a specific page, API endpoint, CLI command etc).

Categorization isn't rigid, InputBuffer does its best to put feedback where it belongs and gives you a clear triage flow if you want the added control.

Once organized you can learn more via a quick analytics dashboard or by interrogating the data directly, chatting with InputBuffer to gain a stronger understanding of your product, with clear citations to all feedback.

I have had success on both small and large amounts of input, on traditional SaaS platforms, developer tools, open source projects and more.

Next up: automatically gathering user input from other platforms (like GitHub issues), and more research tools.

Comment · 4 years ago
I've tried a lot of different app, and mealime is the only one that clicked with me.

1. I'm reminded to pick meals on Sunday 2. I select a couple of interesting recipes and it creates a grocery list. The recipes are varied but not too varied to induce choice paralysis. Dietary restrictions are automatically applied from your account settings. 3. It has its own cooking mode with great features like "every step tells you exactly how much of an ingredient you need" and "hold your hand over the screen to progress" so I don't get crap on my phone.

I've been using it for over a month now and am still happy with it.

Comment · 4 years ago
I'm sure it would amplify my anxiety!

My son was IVF so we already have images of him most parents would never see (e.g. blast stage), but having a long term ultrasound time lapse of those 9 months of my son would be pretty amazing.

Comment · 5 years ago
I didn't use the word offended.

Feeling offended is a very different emotion than feeling alienated.

Comment · 5 years ago
It's not a good feeling when you find something "simple" to be hard. Few tasks are easy when you're a new programmer still wrapping your head around conditionals.

If my docs might be used by a new programmer I try to avoid alienating my users with the word simple.

Comment · 7 years ago
I looked at the code (but didnt try it) and I think this only affects console output, not any return value that you would parse.
Comment · 8 years ago
Ah, I read that phrase differently, but think I see your point now. There's definitely a type of "plan" that can be very micromanagey, and problematic.

I've lucked out and most plans I've worked with are super, super high level and gives everyone a lot of freedom.

Comment · 8 years ago
He goes in more details about product management here: http ://blairreeves.me/2018/10/16/whats-a-senior-product-managers-job/

I don't believe his view conflicts with yours.

I think it's very possible to have someone present to help define value and priorities, and focus on the people part of getting shit built, while giving engineers a lot of creative involvement and ownership.

Comment · 8 years ago
Does anyone have experience with long-term usage of these automatic DB to API systems?

I always worry about change management and inefficient designs.

Comment · 9 years ago
I like hal+forms!
Comment · 9 years ago
Business logic should be hidden behind the API and the representation. Just like a website, actions are presented when the business logic allows it.

Other API calls depend on the purpose. If its part of the business logic, it's probably back end and hidden as described above.

If the other API call simply powers the UI, you might keep it in the client. One example is autocomple for facebook friends. The client can call facebook for a list, let the user select their friend, and then send that friends info to your API.

With that said, I'm not sure how either of those are "non-RESTful" so maybe I missed the point of the question?

Comment · 9 years ago
Comment · 10 years ago
Looks like Steam has similar conditions: http://store.steampowered.com/subscriber_agreement/

"YOU AND VALVE AGREE TO RESOLVE ALL DISPUTES AND CLAIMS BETWEEN US IN INDIVIDUAL BINDING ARBITRATION."

"You grant Valve and its affiliates the worldwide, non-exclusive, right to use, reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, distribute, transmit, transcode, translate, broadcast, and otherwise communicate, and publicly display and publicly perform, your User Generated Content, and derivative works of your User Generated Content, in connection with the operation and promotion of the Steam site."

One key difference is which services this applies to.

Steam: "in connection with the operation and promotion of the Steam site"

Oculus: "in connection with the Services". Where services are defined as "use of physical goods, platform services, software, websites, applications, and content"

Comment · 11 years ago
Comment · 12 years ago

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