I wanted to title this post “Stop writing apps for developers, dummy“ but thought it might not be tactful.
So instead, I want to encourage people to build on their periphery, instead of fortifying their core talents.
If you imagine all your experiences, knowledge and expertise as a big circle, then the center represents your core skills. Most developers stick to the center.
They build to-do apps, invoicing services, yet-another-product meant to be consumed by other developers. I enjoy skimming Hacker News Showcase…but it is practically a memorial to all the misguided developers squandering their talent on another way to take notes.
I certainly understand the allure – I’ve created several projects that were meant for developers. But I don’t think this is a healthy obsession and try to fight it.
Embrace the Periphery
The edges are where all the cool things happen. It’s where your core skillset merges with another interest and synthesizes something new. Where you actually make something useful.
…A service that connects hobbyist gardeners so they can swap vegetables.
…A SaaS that helps local plumbers manage their logistics.
…A search engine to find electrical components.
The perimeter is where your core skillset solves a real problem. Embracing your periphery can also lead to exciting opportunities where you can make a real difference.
ResearchBlogging.org
Back in 2007, I had recently switched from Computer Science to Biology as my college major. Development was my “core skill”, but I was eager to learn more about biology and neuroscience. I became involved with the scientific blogging scene and started writing about neuroscience.
The scientific blogging community was just beginning to take off. Bloggers were excited to write about science in a way that most journalists avoid: in-depth coverage of individual papers.
I discovered a group of bloggers who had begun using an icon on their posts to signify they had read the primary literature. Bloggers (and readers) wanted a way to separate out blogs that had actually read the primary literature.
Their non-technical solution was to include the icon. Simple, effective… but prone to abuse.
I jumped in and said “Hey! Let’s aggregate all these posts at a central repository and provide quality control“. This was well outside their capabilities but fairly simple for me. I teamed up with several other blogggers and began building ResearchBlogging.org.
I spent about 6 months working for free on the site. The co-founder, Dave Munger, helped network with other technologists, librarians and media outlets.
Together we pushed out a system that simplified citation generation for bloggers. These citations were auto-generated and auto-aggregated by ResearchBlogging.org. Bloggers and readers alike loved the system.
Eventually, my involvement in the site was not enough to keep up with the demands of users. Dave negotiated a deal with Seed Media (the same people who run the Seed magazine and ScienceBlogs) to take over development of RB. I transferred control over to their developers and backed out of the project.
In some sense, I suppose RB was “acquired”, although it is a non-profit and no money was made by either party. To my knowledge, RB is still going strong and has over 1000 blogs that contribute.
ResearchBlogging.org was on my periphery
I think ResearchBlogging.org is a great example of a periphery project. I was a fledgling science blogger, didn’t know anything about citation metadata or library science. I had never sat in conference calls or discussed UI layouts with non-technical people.
Those were all experiences, skills and interests on the edge of my awareness. Together with my primary skillset, web development, I helped to make a site that is still going strong four years later (admittedly without my assistance). I also like to think I made scientific journalism just a tiny bit better.
The next time you begin a side project or startup, consider something on the edge of your skillset instead of your core.
I wonder how many more things we could improve if more developers wrote apps for their side-interests rather than for other developers.
Notes
- Dave is now co-founder of ScienceSeeker, which looks like a spiritual successor to ResearchBlogging.org. Check it out if you are interested in science news.
- Here is a snapshot of what “old ResearchBlogging.org” looked like. The UI was provided by someone else – most of my work was on the backend (database, aggregation system, API integration with CrossRef etc)
- Mentions of my involvement in the project grow slimmer as the internet slowly loses things, but you can still find my name here and here.
- Someone should build that vegetable swapping service. I’d use it.
