This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by James Britt. Original Post: Getting feedback for your product: JotBot on Hacker News Feed Title: James Britt: Ruby Development Feed URL: http://feeds.feedburner.com/JamesBritt-Home Feed Description: James Britt: Playing with better toys Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by James Britt Latest Posts From James Britt: Ruby Development

Now that JotBot has been released, I wanted to get more feedback for the application. I posted to Hacker News and solicited comments.

I have to say that I’m really pleased with the results. I’ve seen a jump in the number of people requesting trial keys; I can’t be sure (maybe Google Analytics can help me here) but I’m assuming the post prompted folks to try it out. So that’s good.

But the comments have been really useful. Not everyone is falling all over the app, of course. But there have been some good observations, some good questions about how JotBot works and how it effects the user.

I really appreciate the comments from Tony Wright of RescueTime. RescueTime was a Y Combinator startup, and I’ve been hearing good things about it ever since they launched.

Among other things, Tony’s comments made me realize that some may think of JotBot in terms of a productivity app, while others see it as a pro-active record-keeping tool. Hence, what works for some does not work for others, or work so well. (I, of course, secretly want it to be all things to all people. More realistically, I do not want to downplay its value as a productivity enhancer, but I do see how it differs from RescueTime and other “stealth” behavior tracking tools, and JotBot was born of a need to track activity details. Yes, it can make you more productive, but its “pull” model may be the wrong kind of disruption for some people. I just hope people try it before passing judgment)

Aside from Tony’s points, one comment really got me thinking: To use JotBot, you need a key, even for the free trial. For some, this is too much of an annoyance. Indeed, it would be much nicer if people could just download and run the app, while the time-limit still held. More thought needs to be given to that. I want it to be as painless as possible for people to see if JotBot works for them. On the other hand, I’m not a fan of crippleware or nagware. Suggestions welcome!

So, thanks again to the HN community. I’d love it if everyone who commented went and tried JotBot and then decided to buy it. But, no matter what, I’m really grateful that people take the time to offer their observations.