Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Super excited about new features!
Hi all... Thomas and I were chatting last night about the "prop by email" feature. I've been having so much fun with that just as a user. I think I Propped about 25 people last night that I think are cool but who haven't yet discovered Propits. I got that warm glow of sending out good intentions (and about 29 cents to each person). It was nice for me to get back in touch with the simple generosity of using Propits as we approach our 1 year anniversary. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am!
Monday, September 28, 2009
All grow'ed up
Alright, I think the migration is done with (at least, everything is working for me). If you notice something that didn't quite make the leap, email us at support@madpropits.com and we will do our best to figure it out as fast as possible!
Growing pains
So, as you may have read on various facebook updates, we are in the process of upgrading to a beefier server. The site may be down for a little while until everything gets moved over. Just give it some time, and we should be done with the move soon.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Forward!
So, we just rolled out a few new features. Along with the standard bug fixes and speed improvements, we have two MAJOR changes to the system, that we are totally excited about.
The first one is the ability to prop anyone you want by email. What this means is that if you see something cool online that you want to prop, you no longer have to invite them, wait for them to join, check on them, prop them, etc. Just put in their email address, hit Prop, and you're good to go. An account will be made and held for them, and when your Props cycle, they will get an email enticing them with real-life money. It's better for us because we can grow the network faster, and it's better for you because you can prop with impunity! Yeah freedom! You can check that out on your Propits home page.
The second big feature rollout is what we are calling "Network rewards". Here's the gig: If you are giving $25 or more every month, and you invite people to the site who actually sign up, you get a cut of whatever they contribute to the system. We take a 10% cut (as you know) to cover our costs, but now we are giving back a third of that as a thank-you for supporting Propits. To learn more, check out the Network Rewards tab on your Propits home page.
More cool stuff is coming! We are spending more time lately getting our vision straight, collecting opinions from you guys, and planning an all-around better propping experience.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
back up
We got the site back up, and it actually seems a bit snappier than before. Seems the offender was a server software update that was taking an unusually long amount of time to complete. In any event, space propping is totally un-canceled.
Grrrrr
So, you may have noticed that the site is down.... The wonders of letting someone else deal with your servers...
Anyway, we are aware of the problem and are in the process of tracking it down and fixing it as I type. Hang tight, and we will be back up and running in no-time.
Anyway, we are aware of the problem and are in the process of tracking it down and fixing it as I type. Hang tight, and we will be back up and running in no-time.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
A bit off topic
So, this is a bit off-topic, but it's something that has been on my mind, and I would love some feedback from folks.
I'm not the first person to say something like, "There's quality, budget, and timeframe. Pick two". We hear that all the time. Sometimes we even hear things from people saying pick one, or marketing talk saying that they deliver all three. But in all cases, people tend to agree that these three factors are the things to consider when releasing some product or service.
I think they're wrong. I think that timeframe is total bunk. Here's why.
Budget is a finite thing. You have x number of dollars to dedicate to a project. Obviously you can manage that money better or worse, or get more later, but at any given time you can look at your bank balance and see how much money you can spend on your project. Quality is the only thing that sets you apart from your competition (assuming that you have competition). Of course, there are cases when you let the quality of something slack because of this reason or that. But I would think that most people would agree that a product that is worth buying and a bit over budget is better than something that fell under budget but no one on the planet would want to purchase.
That leaves time. Here's the thing: Deadlines are arbitrary. That's right. If you set a deadline, you set it because of some opinion you had about that timeframe ("we do things in 1 month pushes", or "I want to be done before next year"). But if the deadline isn't met, what happens? Does anyone die (keep in mind I'm talking about websites, and things like that, not doctor's offices)? No. Nothing at all happens.
What about investors? They want their money (or at least a report on the money) by a certain time. Why? Because they think that is a good time for it (for tax reasons, for personal reasons, whatever). But in all cases it's still arbitrary. Every time there is some "unbreakable" deadline that people complain about, follow the chain of people who set that deadline, and I would be willing to bet that the ultimate reason for it is, "Some dude thought that was a good time to be done, and everyone else got all worked up about it".
Lastly, there have been several really great studies that have shown that the primary factor in success is the ability to delay gratification. So the people who freak out about deadlines are the ones that will fail anyway (okay, okay; correlation and causation, blah blah blah... just go with me on this), and so the work being done will be for naught.
One of my past jobs was all about getting things done as fast as possible, releasing new features every week to "compete", etc etc. Woe be to those who missed a deadline. That company is now out of business. How many other times has this same pattern been followed?
Now, that's not to say that a self-imposed deadline is always bad. It provides inspiration, and a goal. It allows a person or group to schedule times to talk about the project, etc. That's all good stuff. I'm just saying freaking out about it isn't a good idea, and learning to delay deadlines for the sake of future success is probably a better idea.
What are your deadlines? What happens if you miss them? Are your feelings when those deadlines are missed in line with the results of missing them?
How much stress do we add to our lives because of something as simple as a person saying "Monday is better than Friday"?
What do you do in your life to release some of that stress? How does it effect you?
I'm not the first person to say something like, "There's quality, budget, and timeframe. Pick two". We hear that all the time. Sometimes we even hear things from people saying pick one, or marketing talk saying that they deliver all three. But in all cases, people tend to agree that these three factors are the things to consider when releasing some product or service.
I think they're wrong. I think that timeframe is total bunk. Here's why.
Budget is a finite thing. You have x number of dollars to dedicate to a project. Obviously you can manage that money better or worse, or get more later, but at any given time you can look at your bank balance and see how much money you can spend on your project. Quality is the only thing that sets you apart from your competition (assuming that you have competition). Of course, there are cases when you let the quality of something slack because of this reason or that. But I would think that most people would agree that a product that is worth buying and a bit over budget is better than something that fell under budget but no one on the planet would want to purchase.
That leaves time. Here's the thing: Deadlines are arbitrary. That's right. If you set a deadline, you set it because of some opinion you had about that timeframe ("we do things in 1 month pushes", or "I want to be done before next year"). But if the deadline isn't met, what happens? Does anyone die (keep in mind I'm talking about websites, and things like that, not doctor's offices)? No. Nothing at all happens.
What about investors? They want their money (or at least a report on the money) by a certain time. Why? Because they think that is a good time for it (for tax reasons, for personal reasons, whatever). But in all cases it's still arbitrary. Every time there is some "unbreakable" deadline that people complain about, follow the chain of people who set that deadline, and I would be willing to bet that the ultimate reason for it is, "Some dude thought that was a good time to be done, and everyone else got all worked up about it".
Lastly, there have been several really great studies that have shown that the primary factor in success is the ability to delay gratification. So the people who freak out about deadlines are the ones that will fail anyway (okay, okay; correlation and causation, blah blah blah... just go with me on this), and so the work being done will be for naught.
One of my past jobs was all about getting things done as fast as possible, releasing new features every week to "compete", etc etc. Woe be to those who missed a deadline. That company is now out of business. How many other times has this same pattern been followed?
Now, that's not to say that a self-imposed deadline is always bad. It provides inspiration, and a goal. It allows a person or group to schedule times to talk about the project, etc. That's all good stuff. I'm just saying freaking out about it isn't a good idea, and learning to delay deadlines for the sake of future success is probably a better idea.
What are your deadlines? What happens if you miss them? Are your feelings when those deadlines are missed in line with the results of missing them?
How much stress do we add to our lives because of something as simple as a person saying "Monday is better than Friday"?
What do you do in your life to release some of that stress? How does it effect you?
Monday, September 14, 2009
User feedback survey
Hello there!
We here at Propits are working with a third party to survey your experience as a Propits community member. If you've got just a few minutes to answer 18 easy questions, you could really help us understand where we should focus our efforts. We would sure appreciate it!
We here at Propits are working with a third party to survey your experience as a Propits community member. If you've got just a few minutes to answer 18 easy questions, you could really help us understand where we should focus our efforts. We would sure appreciate it!
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