No such thing as too many clips
Welcome to slow and steady, a podcast where you get to follow along as we break friends in public. Each week we'll give you a modest peek into our lives, As we share our struggles, our wins, and everything in between. I'm Benedicte, and I'm once again feeling super busy.
Benedicte:And I'm Benedikte. Today is November 14th. This is episode number 192, and I am feeling strong.
Benedikt:Whoo. That's, that's something. Why do you, did you, did you start lifting what what's going on there?
Benedicte:I mean, I've been exercising semiregularly since February, and it's finally starting to show. Or not show. I wouldn't say it's showing. That's that's the rug. But, I can feel it.
Benedicte:Like, I had to run to the bus the other day With, Lillian and her friend. And it was like I was like, oh, I can do this. It's not. Nothing is, you know, nothing is in pain. Well, things are in pain because I am now exercising, and you get sore.
Benedicte:But, like, you know, you you can run, and you're not like, okay. I'm gonna be laying on the the couch for the next week because I threw out my back or anything like that. You know? And I just and then I also do the ballet, and I went to ballet yesterday, and I could also there, like, feel like I could do. Let's not videotape it yet.
Benedicte:But I halfway managed to do, like, a grand plie without my ass sticking out. So
Benedikt:pretty loud. That's amazing. Feeling strong.
Benedicte:Yes. But when this kind of newfound strongness is gonna give me energy, that's when I'm that's what I'm wondering. Everybody who exercises, like, oh, it gives you energy, Still not. Not really. Like, I get very like, I feel stronger, but also I feel exhausted the day after exercise.
Benedicte:So
Benedikt:Well, I don't know.
Benedicte:I wouldn't know anything about that. You wouldn't know anything about that. Okay.
Benedikt:No. Unfortunately, not. My exercise routine has kinda dwindled again, unfortunately. I'm The thing is you
Benedicte:have to just keep on going. That's what what I've learned this year is that and that I don't do it for a week or a week and a half, but then I just instead of making it a big deal, I kinda just keep on going from where I left off. While before I was like, oh, this didn't work. Let me make a new routine or, like, let me make some changes or, like, Something like that. I just kinda just pick the nest next little task of the Kanban board and just do it, no matter how long A break I've had.
Benedicte:And it's really and that that approach is working for me. Like, it's literally a Kanban board of exercise. Cool.
Benedikt:Yeah. Maybe I should try that. I I used an app for a while, And, it would just suggest stuff I should do, but some of that stuff is held ridiculously. Wow. Shitty.
Benedikt:I don't I don't wanna do it.
Benedicte:And I also feel with the apps, it's like and then they track you, and then they're like, oh, you broke your streak. I'm like, well, that's very motivating. Thank you very much. You know? And I because I finally I read almost every day, And I had to go into the Kindle on my phone, and suddenly it had, like, lots of these, like, extrinsic measurements.
Benedicte:And I I could notice. I was like, but what about my streak? Because suddenly I hadn't read one day, and I lost My streak? I didn't even know I had a streak on Kindle. And why would you need more of it?
Benedicte:I I don't I don't know. But, like, I've never felt bad for not reading or reading. It's just, like, I read a lot, and that's just what I do. But suddenly, when it was giving me statistics And showing me my broken streaks, I haven't I I felt bad even though I haven't really tried to keep up a streak. Like, I I read at night to relax, and if I don't, I don't.
Benedicte:But so I'm very happy this is not on my Kindle because it's so old. So I'm just gonna stay off the Kindle app.
Benedikt:And it makes sense. Yeah. I have not noticed that this is a thing now. But, yeah, everything is gamified. Right?
Benedikt:Everything has, like, Achievements and streaks and stats and scoreboards and everything.
Benedicte:It's very stressful. I mean, reading is such a like, just a very relaxing activity, and it's it's I don't know. It shouldn't, I don't know it shouldn't be gamified.
Benedikt:Yes, I agree.
Benedicte:I know they do that in schools and stuff already, and I feel like they're taking a lot of that. I do. We've talked about this before. I need, like, strength and safety motivation. I need to promise somebody I will do something.
Benedicte:But all of these, like, streaks and badges and all of that, that's Just just that doesn't work for me. I just get annoyed, and then I get mad. And then I want to throw my phone in the wall because it's Telling me I'm not doing good enough. And yeah. Well, that was a different topic.
Benedicte:But tech people out there, think about your gamification. It's not always good.
Benedikt:It's not always the way the way to go, I guess. Yeah. I totally agree.
Benedicte:But there's this guy in, MegaMaker, the community that I think we're both part of. And he's created is it called polar habits where he has take instead of having a streak that gets broken, it's like an upward Graph. So it just flattens. So when you don't do your habit for a couple of days, it kind of flattens. The graph flattens.
Benedicte:But then when you start doing it again, the Graph starts climbing again. So he was trying to remove that kind of, oh, you've broken the streak, which For some people, it's very motivating. They never wanna break the streak. But if you do break it, it's very unmotivating because suddenly you lost all your progress. Like, even an exercise is not like that.
Benedicte:If you if you don't do it for a week and you start again, it's not like all is lost. So I think his idea was that You visualize it differently where it's like, oh, it's flattened. Obviously, it didn't get, you know, stronger. It didn't get better at whatever your habit was. But as soon as you start doing it again, your graph starts going up instead of there being like this, oh, let's start at 0.
Benedicte:Yeah.
Benedikt:Yeah. That makes sense.
Benedicte:Mhmm.
Benedikt:I'm keeping up my drums habit. Or Oh. To start off. Not every day, but almost every day. That's kind of nice.
Benedicte:Okay. That runs over on the gamification.
Benedikt:Nice.
Benedicte:Good. So why are you so busy? Are you working are you working busy? Are you personally busy?
Benedikt:I am working busy. I mean, same as the last 2, 3, or 4 episodes. We're still in crunch mode on the workflow builder. We rolled it out to a couple of beta customers. Amazingly, I feel like 15, 16 people or so reached out to us and wanted access, and we enable it for all of them.
Benedikt:And we asked them to send in the video after, like, their first time using it. And Only 2 of them did so far. But those 2 videos were very helpful because you could really see, like, I'm looking at it for the 1st time and then figuring it out as they go. And while it didn't immediately figure out everything correctly, you could, like, see that after a minute or so, they they understood what was going on. Like, even though it's not, like, super smooth, like, I I consider 2 minutes a pretty good, time to to get the concepts down.
Benedikt:And then I think once, after that, like, once they finished that, they were able to use it, as we intended it to. It also showed a bug that we didn't know existed until someone else was using it because as usual You
Benedicte:had bugs?
Benedikt:Yeah. There was a bug in there. We had an if else condition with 4 branches.
Benedicte:Oh, so you mean AI?
Benedikt:Sort of. Yes. It was true false and then nothing nothing. And that didn't make any sense. But, yeah, I guess you wouldn't have found out if it weren't for a customer Doing a particular order of operations that would cost us, and we were able to fix it.
Benedikt:But, yeah, Again, it was just helpful to to ask for the videos. I'm hoping we're getting a few more, but, even if not, it's it's already good.
Benedicte:Yeah. We actually did the same for etcetera where Jeff hijacked the sign up button, and then it was a screen that said, oh, we'll give you a free month or a free something if you record a video while signing up.
Benedikt:Mhmm.
Benedicte:And we also found a bug. Yep. We found a bug and then also some onboarding things that, will be fixed. But I thought, like because a lot of the time, You think you have to, like, have, like, a very good process, and at least I, like, overdue these things where it's like, oh, I need to, like, read the book and has to do customer interviews, and then I have to do this and That and it has to, like, be perfect. But Jeff was, like, like, just let's just ask them to record themselves.
Benedicte:And it's not, like, a perfect process, but some did. And That was a we got a lot of information from that. And then if we wanted to dig into that, I guess it would be good to do more, like, Proper kind of like interviews, but this was a very low or very easy way to get a lot of, feedback. And I think now Folks kinda know how to record their screens. I think before, that would have been quite a big ask for a lot of People you would have to actually set up kind of like test environments and have people physically come in sometimes to test things, but But these days, people know kinda how to record their screen and and Right.
Benedicte:You know? It's like a video call, and they just kinda do it. So it's not as big an ask as it might have been, you know, even just 5 years ago. So
Benedikt:People are more used to doing this. Yeah.
Benedicte:Yeah. So that's a tip tip for people there that that's, you know, that's as that's a low the lowest or lowest hanging fruit version, We both like of of doing that type of research is just asking people to use it and record themselves, and then you can Make some, informed decisions about where you go from there.
Benedikt:Yep. So, yeah, that part was helpful. And, Since then, we've been just like adding new stuff like new features to the workflow builder. And I got to say, the velocity is pretty crazy. Like, we are able to ship stuff super fast.
Benedikt:And I guess it's because it's such, like, the entire concept of the workflows is very modularized and there's pretty strict interfaces. So and there's a lot of like there's not a lot of. Interconnectivity sort of with different systems because, like, every node in that workflow graph just has an input and an output more or less. And then what happens in between does not matter at all. And we were able to churn out Three new node types within a week, basically.
Benedikt:We added, an an exit node type where you can, like, stop the workflow. I tried doing this. I was like, how hard can this be? It took less than an hour. Like, everything included back ends, front end, Graph rendering everything within an hour.
Benedikt:We added a new
Benedicte:So just give you the benefits of spending some time to get it right.
Benedikt:Yes. I guess. Yeah. We had a
Benedicte:because you've been complaining not complaining, but you've been saying like, oh, this took longer than I thought. This took longer than I you know, because It's been kind of that's kind of been the refrain the last episodes. But now, on the other side of that, it Seems like, yes, you're getting the the benefits of taking that time.
Benedikt:At least on on some parts. Yes. Yeah. It's true. Like, a lot of stuff you're doing in Israel has so far, it's always been, like, yeah, a lot of dependencies and other stuff.
Benedikt:And then, Yeah. Having to refactor existing stuff and things like that. But for a change, this one is not one of them. So we added the exit note. We added a split testing note where you can randomly branch out up to 5 branches.
Benedikt:I think That had some challenges in there that we didn't anticipate earlier, but, like, it was still done within a week. And, basically, this week we are adding a notification type of thing where you can send yourself an email when something happens. And that's, I mean, there's some open questions, but like the basic version is done. Like, And what's crazy about this, this is just Leo doing it himself, like both front end and back end. He basically built the thing the thing last night.
Benedikt:So that's super encouraging that we can just easily add new stuff. And even for Leo, who is not super familiar with the back end side of things, he's able to add new stuff. And it just works, And that's that's pretty pretty great. So I'm I'm pumped.
Benedicte:You should also be proud. That looks I'm
Benedikt:also proud. Yes.
Benedicte:Do the architects The architecture you've created there.
Benedikt:I don't wanna toot my horn too much, but, I'm pretty I'm pretty amazed what we were able to build with just a team of 2 developers and 1 designer. It's pretty cool. For a small team, I guess
Benedicte:I'm super impressed.
Benedikt:Thank you. But, yeah, that's about it. Like, there's not much else happening, which is, like, Again, training on this and, yeah, planning to ship it early December.
Benedicte:Oh. Cool.
Benedikt:What have you been working on?
Benedicte:Well, the same thing as you. Same things I've been working on all fall, it feels.
Benedikt:Are you making progress? How did your, like, how did your 1st stream go for mixing?
Benedicte:That was a lot of fun. So we're back to streaming, which I guess is new. And we're having our 2nd stream this Saturday, and it was just so much fun. Like, I we've missed it. It And it was a very good decision to put it to Saturday morning, just everybody in the family was a little bit more awake.
Benedicte:And, you know, Well, I guess I was less enthusiastic at night, which is fine. But everybody kind of, we were all awake, And none of us were overtired and, didn't kinda ruin or mess up our whole evening and, like, you know, sleep schedules and all that. So that was great. And then we also had AK, which streamed with us back in, you know, the plague times. And, she saw that we were gonna start again, and she was like, oh, could I, you know, can I participate in some way?
Benedicte:And she's really great to have on stream as well. So AK joined. So and she's really good with the chat and And, you know, writing that some notes about what happened during the stream and those kinds of things. So that has been great because we got some help to create clips. So you might all hate me by the end of this week if you follow me on social media because there will be a clip every day From this stream and that will probably continue in the foreseeable future.
Benedicte:So let me know if there's if there's too many clips. I might not listen, but let me know anyway.
Benedikt:There's no such such thing as too many clips. No.
Benedicte:I mean, it can never be too many clips. So that that has been a lot of fun and, like, given me some energy, I feel, and I feel like we've because I do love streaming, but then too much streaming is tiring. Like, there's there's, you know, you can things can be both fun and Tiring, I guess. But I feel like every other week is like a really good schedule doing it Saturday mornings even though we don't get Americans watching because they're asleep. It still works better for us, and we got some, you know, we got some, Europeans watching, and we had a good chat, which is So there's some people in the chat chatting.
Benedicte:It just, like, makes the, the stream so much more fun. And, getting these Clips from it, I feel like we have a process now, like we can actually use the streams as this Content flywheel or, like, it's it's a it's an engine or a flywheel. I don't know what you wanna call it, but it it feels like we we've landed on something that we can due for the long haul, and it's fun, and it will also, give us, you know, better and better sponsors, we hope, moving forward. So we're working on the call for sponsors sponsors? Call for sponsors, which I'm calling it.
Benedicte:We've written up a document about what this is, and we're gonna, send that out to the people who have shown interest. So cross your fingers that we get more, Really good sponsors, so we can keep doing this forever and ever. But I guess where I'm feeling scattered is the, The work I'm doing for, because I only work, you know, 1 or 2 days a week, but one day is for technical support, and the other day is for creating kind of more dev or doing more DevRel work. There's been less support now, so I should have more time to do the DevRel work. But then kind of my habit is to check for support at night, and it's hard then to shift into doing something else when there isn't support.
Benedicte:I'm trying to create a little backlog of easier documentation tasks that I can do. So if I kinda show up for my support slot, or the time I usually set aside at night to do support, I can then do some documentation tasks. But I need to have those defined because at night, I cannot define tasks. That I realized does not work, then I just kinda scramble around and do nothing. So Yeah.
Benedicte:I have to do that during the day. And then I've started on different demos and kind of got stuck on different parts, so I'm really just feeling scattered, so I need to finish some of these. But also I realized today when I went back to the Framer integration we're creating or Framer code component, a lot of things that I was struggling with Not, like, technically, but, like, how this should be print sent it to the user and how we can make it easier for the user of this code component kind of just all fell into place Today, as soon as I started working. So I think that calendar time or that kind of, like, break where you just let things simmer is also good, but it's always hard to know, like, when am I not pushing through and completing this and when is it a good simmer.
Benedikt:Mhmm.
Benedicte:You know, it's, Yeah. And then I started on the next demo while I kinda was waiting to figure out some of this framework things, and I was like, oh, it's going So fast. And I was like, this is you know, I'm gonna have this done, but then I encountered one of next's Lovely. Undocumented slash features slash bugs Yeah. Where nobody really Agree if it's a feature or a bug or what it is.
Benedicte:Mhmm. And nobody could help me because the newest version is so new. So I need to, dial it back a little bit and just do one of the older, more trusted ways of doing it, I guess. But there was a problem, And I'm going to keep complaining about this, but it was a problem because there was client side navigation that took precedent Precedence over the server side stuff so that even though kind of I let Next know that this page needs to be rerendered on the server. It's never rerendered on the server because the client side navigation has just cached The whole freaking page and never asks the server for
Benedikt:Okay. Yeah. Sounds amazing.
Benedicte:Yes. It does. So I was complaining there was a hole to the thread. I did get some help, And I haven't had really have time to look fully into it, but I hope to do that on a Friday, spend some time on Friday as well. But now it's all about getting this, frame or code component, then comp all the way to completion so that I get it out there, because I need to see some completion.
Benedicte:Nice. Yes. So but I guess that's the way life is when you're a fractional Developer or fractional employee in multiple places.
Benedikt:Yep. Yep.
Benedicte:It's got its, perks and its, what's the opposite of perks? Downsides, I guess.
Benedikt:Yep.
Benedicte:And then, of course, because I did clear some other stuff off my plate, I decided to create a advent calendar.
Benedikt:Oh, tell me more.
Benedicte:Because I because I have nothing to do. I Well, I've wanted to make calendars for a long time. But anyway, the calendar will be semantic HTML, A semantic what did I call it? A semantic advent. Semantic advent, I think I call it.
Benedicte:The concept is that you'll get an email every day with 1 semantic element describing what it is and how it can be used because I feel like There is a lot of Div usage out there, I guess. Especially in the React world, there, are a lot of people who kinda learned React before they learn HTML, which is totally a valid way of doing it, but also then have very little kind of knowledge about the HTML that comes out of the React code they write and that there are HTML elements as well, not just React components. And and, if you used to correct ones, you get so much for free. You get SEO for free. You get accessibility for free.
Benedicte:You know, it's it's just nice to have, like, a little bit of overview, and I also think it's something that can be fun to get, like, a drip every day. I mean, it's gonna be the shortest email. That's why I also decided that I can actually do this because it's basically gonna be copy pasted from the documentation, like that one line on what it is, but then I'm trying to, come up with with examples from my own work or for other people's work about when to use it so that you kind of have the definition, but then we'll have, like, more of a personal story or personal example to showcase the element. And I gotten some people that said they wanna help, so I don't have to write all of them. But I need to create the kinda template for it and then have people pick different elements that they've hopefully used in their work so that we can get, like, real world Examples of the element.
Benedicte:And I just randomly picked 24 that I like because there are, like, a 100. So
Benedikt:Yeah. There are plenty. Right? That's cool.
Benedicte:So if you have a favorite semantic HTML element, I'm gonna keep it secret which one is mine. Mine is actually deprecated, but it's still gonna be included. Oh, but if you do have a I'm not saying. It might be, But if you have a favorite HTML element, semantic element that you feel is underused, Marquee is probably not underused, Then let me know, and I'll make sure it's included. I might swap out one of the ones that I chose.
Benedicte:But if you have a, yeah, if you have one that you feel, You know, why don't people use this element more? And an example of how you've used it, you know, DM me on Twitter, and I'll I'll give you a credit on that day and, make sure to include it. Yeah. I think it's fine. And it's also a little inspired with my bank job where I do work with, more junior developers who are really, like, hungry for this kind of content in a way.
Benedikt:So where do people sign up?
Benedicte:There's still no sign up. Oh, no. Will be out this week. And I'm, like, grappling. Should I buy another domain?
Benedicte:Or should I just, like, put it on, like, advent.ray.codes or, like, semantic.ray.codes? I'm not sure. What do you think?
Benedikt:I don't know.
Benedicte:You should say do not buy anymore Domains is is always the reply you should give me. To put us. Then I'll go out and buy it anyway.
Benedikt:Okay. Well, then don't buy a new domain, but buy it Anyway, I yeah.
Benedicte:Anyway. Yeah. No. Hopefully, I'll get it, launched this week and maybe even before this comes out, There will be a link in the description.
Benedikt:Sounds good. Cool. Anything else?
Benedicte:Anything else? You wanna hear about my, my mom moment this week, these 2 weeks?
Benedikt:Sure.
Benedicte:Sure. So Lillian had her 1st concert this weekend.
Benedikt:Oh, what, Phil, fill us in on the details. What is it playing? An instrument? Is he singing? Is he
Benedicte:dancing? She started she started playing the flute. And I think it's called a flute in English. It's the one that kind of go across. Like, you know, I don't know what it's Old in English.
Benedicte:It's in Norwegian, it's which means a cross flute.
Benedikt:Mhmm. Yes. Same in German.
Benedicte:I'm pretty sure that's not I'm pretty sure that's not the English name. Yeah. She started playing in August, and she just loves marching band. So she's a part of the marching band, and they had their 1st concert this weekend. And, It was very emotional and very cute.
Benedikt:And I just looked it up. Apparently, it's the Traverse flute or the German flute?
Benedicte:The German flute.
Benedikt:Apparently.
Benedicte:Oh, apparently. At least that's what the German
Benedikt:that's what the German to English dictionary says. I mean, it might be opinionated. Who knows?
Benedicte:It might be opinionated. Well, that's interesting that even because usually in English, they're not that literal. So the the traverse flute is exactly that, like the across flute or whatever. It's, you know interesting. Interesting.
Benedicte:Yes. I'm learning a lot, and she thinks it's so much fun that I don't I have, like, no musical background. I have no matching band background. Like, I know nothing about things. And I think that's partly why she loves it so much.
Benedikt:So you can do something that you can't?
Benedicte:Yeah. And I think it's, like, completely her thing. It's, you know, it's not something kind of we encouraged or can like participate in other than being observer. So what she, she knows and what she does. So we'll see how it goes, but this so far, she is just super excited.
Benedicte:This is like the funnest thing ever. So we're gonna get a little marching band nerd kid, I guess.
Benedikt:Well, it could be worse things, I guess.
Benedicte:Could be worse. Thanks.
Benedikt:So she had her 1st concert, marching band concert, with the entire Mhmm. Marching band?
Benedicte:So they played so they are the the newest ones, and they played in front of the oldest ones. So the oldest ones kind of backed them. So there's, like, 3 3 marching bands. It's the seniors, the juniors, and the, these ones who are called. Again, I do not know the English word for these things.
Benedicte:So they stood in front and then the senior marching band was playing behind them. And then for a little part, they did a solo where all of them played without the seniors playing.
Benedikt:Nice.
Benedicte:So we were like, I thought they were all going to do solo. I thought that was a little early. Because they've been saying, like, oh, and then the the new ones are gonna do a solo, and I thought they meant that every one of the kids would, like, do a solo. But no, all of the new ones played together, and that was the solo.
Benedikt:Not so solo solo.
Benedicte:Not so solo solo. I mean,
Benedikt:it's a nice idea. Removes a little bit after pressure.
Benedicte:Yes. It seems like they have a very kind of good foundation in how they do How they do the marching band. Like, there is thought and intention behind everything they do.
Benedikt:That's nice. So Yeah. That's nice for a change.
Benedicte:Yes. Exactly. It's and and when I was at the info Kind of the info meeting for this marching band after I reluctantly said yes, they kind of they reminded us that this is the only activity where Different ages get to participate in the same activity. Where I was like, oh, I hadn't thought about that, but that is something I feel is missing from kind of kids today. They only usually do all activities with their own age group.
Benedicte:While in marching band, well, this 1st year, it's It's used it's like their age group, or it's everyone who started. So one so one has started later, so she's older. But then as soon as they're done with this foundational year, they be in the junior band, and that's, like, 3 or 4 years range. And that's kinda cool.
Benedikt:That's nice. Yeah. Yep. Cool. Okay.
Benedikt:Well, then congratulations. Instead of video.
Benedicte:There are videos, but they will not be publicized because there are lots
Benedikt:of kids
Benedicte:in the video. Right.
Benedikt:It's probably already on YouTube, and you don't know. Right?
Benedicte:Well, I don't know. Lily in school is pretty like, the parents there are pretty, like
Benedikt:Pretty strict. Okay. That's good.
Benedicte:Yeah. Yeah. They're pretty strict. Oh, but On this note, if people are still listening, on so on Friday, we get a free concert ticket to this marching band concert, and I was like, yes. Let's go.
Benedicte:I brought Lillian. It was a little late. And then at the end of that concert, they were like, oh, there's gonna be another concert, a Frank Sappa tribute concert.
Benedicte:And I was like, I like Frank Seppa. And Linen was like, I wanna go to more concerts. So we went over to the Frank Seppa tribute, which was all like brass Instruments, like, and and those kind of things. And we went and it was super cool, but it was, like, done at half past 11 at night. So around midnight, Lillian and I was, like, walking through center of Oslo.
Benedicte:And there's a different vibe in Oslo at, like, midnight. We were just having so much fun And walking there and looking at, like, nightlife also. And I haven't seen that in years. And this was obviously the 1st time Lillian saw it. So she just walked around with, like, the biggest eyes.
Benedicte:She was like, oh my god. What are all these grown ups, like, doing? Why are they acting so weird? And Why is he sitting in a trash can?
Benedikt:That's funny.
Benedicte:Yeah. So there is a little bit of Harel, stories right there.
Benedikt:Cool. Well, sounds like you both had fun.
Benedicte:We had so much fun. And I'm I'm seeing there's gonna be lots of marching band concerts in my future, so I'll just need to learn and learn to appreciate.
Benedikt:Yep. Yep. Cool. Well, I guess that's it for this week.
Benedicte:Yep. Have a good one. See you around the interwebs.
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