• Subscribe to Nugget Reach Orbit plan
• Finding first 3-5 ideas for validation

• Selected 5 ideas to start validating, my "luck" surface area

• Looking for forums, social, communities, etc. to start researching and validating ideas

• Sent email to a Nugget submitter to follow up and get more information
• Continuing search for online/community/social resources to tap into around the ideas I want to validate

• Sent off a follow up email to another idea submitter

Took most of the day yesterday off, did a little more research around some of my idea selections. Today:

• Prune my list down and select 1-3 final additions to maximize my "luck" surface area
• Throw lines are not the water in communities that I am active in related to one of my idea selections
• Prepare for a follow up call with a submitter I reached out to and who responded back agreeing to a call

• Scheduled interview call for this Thursday with a Nugget submitter
• Continue pruning idea list
• Locked in my spot for the next Academy batch :-)

• Scheduled another phone call/interview with a Nugget submitter

• More planning for phone interviews with submitters
• Continue researching ideas
• Getting ready to roll with the Beta-Cats!!!

• Had first phone interview with a Nugget submitter :-)

Took the weekend off for the most part, getting ready for vacation and then to return to get rolling with the #beta-cats. As for today:

• Prepare for another phone interview with another Nugget submitter

On vacation visiting family in Puerto Rico, so just checking in ;-) Lookinh forward to getting tjings rolling with the @beta-cats 😎

On vacation, but checking in--one week until the beta-cats get rolling 😎

Still on vacation but checking in to stay up to date 😎

• Returned from vacation
• Reviewed/caught up on day job items
• Getting ready at tje starting line for the beta-cats!!

Having issues getting my machime to start--perfect timing (not) for the start of the beta-cats group. But hell, I'm an IT professional, right?? 😜 So, today:

• Fix computer 😎 -- DONE! (whew!!)
• Prep for follow up call to another submitter
• Review calendar and plan for Nuget Academy activities

• Running out the gates with the herd of beta-cats 😜

• Listed first 35 ideas, working toward 100 😜

Today:

• will be wrapping up inotial idea list (DONE)
• Move onto Stage 2: Step 4 :-)

Crazy day job week, plugging away as I can. Checking in to keep myself honest ;-)

• The end of Stage 2 in sight--taking my time to get the most out of it, great stuff!

• Plenty of day job drag this week, should be freeing up after our migration cuts over on Saturday AM, then back to the good stuff 😎
• Keep plugging away as I can through Academy work

• Planning HITs for Stage 2, Step 13
• Getting ready for system migration for day job ;-)

• Day job migration work today

Back at Nugget work tomorrow 😏

• Published first MTurk HIT for market research, waiting on results...
• Published an MTurk HIT for a second market
• Catching up on academy work while wrapping up day job system migration this weekend.

• Plugging away at narrowing the idea list down, zeroing in on 6 right now

• Completed Stage 3
• Narrowing the idea list down
• Moving on to Stage 4

• Chugging through Stage 4
• Selected top 3 ideas

• Created blank LeanCanvas(es) on Canvanizer
• Getting ready to work on canvases this weekend.

Household tasks trumped side project this weekend, had to take advantage of a break in the weather. Today:

• Start work on Lean Canvases for the remaining 3 ideas
• Read through Lean Canvas methodology
• Built out first Lean Canvas draft for first idea
• Will continue building out the remaining 2 idea drafts tomorrow :-)

Back at it. Today I will be working on completing Stage 4.

• Continuing work on Stage 5, building a starter brand

Day job throwing curve balls...getting back at it this weekend.

• Starting on my first version Vapor landing page
• Working on (a.k.a. dusting off) my HTML/CSS chops

Getting back at it, beating back the day-job dogs to get some time in ;-)

• More landing page work
• Moving ahead with Stage 5

• posted my bare bones starter brand landing page
• Wired in Drip for email list management
• Created rough thank you page to redirect after submitting email address
• Completed Stage 5 :-)

On deck for today:

• Start Stage 6
• Tweaked landing page

• working through cold email outreach step in Stage 6. This material is gold ;-)

Our crazy busy time of year at the day job is putting a slight damper on my Nugget effort, but pushing through. Picking up with building my seed group.

Happy Monday--here's to another week!

• I am preparing to get my seed group outreach activities rolling.

Playing the broken record called The Day Job, cranked to 11. But, I am not giving up by any means!!

• Working on building my cold-email outreach strategy/list

• Re-calibrated my product idea
• Working on initial messaging/description as I continue work on Stage 7 (building my seed group)

• Started interacting with FB groups

On deck today:

• Update landing page to reflect tweaks to approach to the application
• Work on cold email outreach
• Work with Twitter strategy as I am finding FB to be a bit difficult to break into given the market (but will still work FB as a longer term strategy as I build relationships)
• Set up Twitter account for seed group strategy
• Updated landing page to reflect shift in idea/approach

• More slight modifications to the landing page
• Continuing work on Twitter seed group strategy
• Looking for more FB groups
• Taking a second pass at the cold email outreach webinar in Stage 6 to take notes ;-)

• More Twitter outreach
• Followed up with a potential seed via email

• More Twitter outreach/interaction

Day job will be crazy for another few weeks, so I am getting time in as I can. This week I will be continuing working on my seed group strategies.

• More Twitter follow up

• Setting up in-person interview with a potential seed here in Minneapolis/St Paul, MN I connected with on Twitter
• Work on amping my Twitter strategy a couple of notches
• Updated analytics to track signups (conversions)

• Building up Twitter strategy and followers

• Responding to new Twitter followers
• Tweaking messaging for new followers and subscribers
• Working through cold email outreach webinar details, forming the next seed group strategy

• More Twitter follow up

• A lot of focus on the day job
• Will be working on tweaks to my strategy for growing my seed group

• More Twitter follow up
• Meeting potential seed later this afternoon

• Met with potential seed yesterday, went really well. Today will be organizing notes/info
• Review seed group strategies and adjust as needed
• Set up something to organize/track interactions

• Working on landing page messaging content describing the current feature set being validated
• Continue working Twitter

• Updated landing page with messaging content around initial application features: http://waitingroom.us/
• Continue Twitter strategy with updated landing page
• Step up outreach, start work on cold email outreach

In the middle of our annual craziness at the day job, getting in spurts of work done here :-) On deck for today:

• Get to work on cold email outreach strategy...finally (hopefully)
• Step up interaction and some content generation for Twitter strategy
• Tweak autoresponder messaging for email submissions
• Start working on initial mockups for WaitingRoom :-)

• Getting some time in this weekend, reviewing tasks and working on seed group growth strategies
• Work on initial mockups
• Got through a second pass at the cold email outreach webinar. Learned a lot, and a lot of clarity started to form around my specific target market and the approach I will need to take. Will need to learn how to use tools and find strategies that will work in this market.

• More Twitter work

• Follow up with another potential seed from Twitter
• Worked out initial feature list/definitions to drive mockups

• And more Twitter follow up

• Started working on mockups
• Continued Twitter work

• Spent day with family
• A little Twitter follow up

• Coming off a weekend with family in from out of town, picking up with Twitter work--need to step up interaction
• After a few "false starts", I will be starting work on cold email outreach to build

• Chipping away at Twitter
• Things are starting to lighten up at the day job, so time to step it up back on Nugget ;-)

• Working on mockup drafts
• Follow up with a couple more Twitter followers that have said they want/need something like this :-)
• Review landing page and tweak to improve my currently dismal subscribe rate

• Working on initial mockups--getting the Scheduling screens down

• Working on spreadsheet to track potential seeds that have reached out, subscribed, showed interest

• DR exercises this week for the day job
• Putting together mock ups and communication to engage my list of potential seeds

• Sent out follow-ups and mock-up links to seeds/potential seeds
• Set up and added mock-up pages to waitingroom.us
• Acquired and followed up with more Twitter followers

• Continue working on building out mock ups

• Sending DMs to new Twitter followers

• Continued Twitter follow strategy
• Working on wrapping up initial lo-fi mock ups
• Ramping up the Listen and Learn loop ;-)

• Working on wrapping up initial lo-fi mock ups
• Added Disqus to my mock up pages as a feedback channel

• Working out last initial lo-fi mock up page

• Case study call with @justin

As this thing starts to show signs of growing some legs, I am:

• Looking at the reference architecture and HIPAA to service control mappings involved in standing up the required services.
• Reviewing AWS HIPAA CloudFront templates and high level pricing considerations
• Setting up initial code project structure
• Documenting current functional specs to drive development

• Worked with AWS and stood up a HIPAA-compliant system over the weekend, primarily to start gathering some ballpark estimates of operational costs
• Tore down AWS POC stack and reviewing templates to make modifications to reflect actual resource/sizing needs
• Starting work on common application component design and evaluation of AWS services
• Will be communicating with seed group about the current design and getting feedback

• Setting up project code structures, tests based off of initial specs

• More Twitter conversation/follow up

• Continuing conversation with a new Twitter follower who is providing more validation of my recent pivot

• Continue working on getting initial code projects set up
• Updating initial specifications based on feedback

Been down for the count fighting a cold, getting back to work on the project:

• Researched HIPAA requirements and classifications around 3rd party services I plan on using (Twillio, Stripe, etc...)
• Completed core code project setup
• Start working on Hi-Fi screens
• Continue conversations with seeds

• Trying to shake this cold, MN weather not helping ;-)
• Continue working on hi-fi mockups

• Working on hi-fi mockups/screens

Been slow with he side project due to work, being sick and the upcoming holidays. But, I am making slow progress with:

• Twitter follow up
• Hi fi mockup work
• More planning around HIPAA implementation considerations

2 weeks of PTO coming up so I will be getting some quality time in on the side project 😎

• Back at it! Diving into building out hi-fi mockups
• Documenting plan/tasks as I work toward getting ready to #ShipIt !!
• Time to drive up the momentum numbers!!

• Holidays over
• Steady stream of out of town guests gone, last one left this AM
• Take off running into the new year, picking up where I left off...
• Working out hi-fi mock ups
• Updating landing page, transitioning out of vapor state
• Continuing Nugget coursework, getting things back in motion

• Working on screens
• Switching to Ionic for my stack

• checking in for first time in a while, getting back into the groove
• pivoting on the tech stack, making decision in the next couple of days so I can continue building initial screens

• Worked out MVP backlog items
• Restructured my project/repo for new tech stack
• Started looking into options for launching beta to seeds without needing to meet HIPAA requirements (no PHI)

I know, its been a slow go for the past couple of months. But, I am still pushing ahead and not giving up. Learning how to adapt with day job demands accumulating along with a sea of change, I am also traveling once again outside my comfort zone, which is good. I will be providing more updates going forward. That said...

• Continuing to climb the learning curve of new tech
• Working on finally getting the UI screens created for seed group feedback

• Back at it for realz
• Starting to outsource tasks that I am getting stuck on, little things around front end dev
• Mapped out list of screens to build for alpha launch
• Will be reviewing my launch schedule and diving back into Nugget lesson work this weekend
• This is the Year of Ship!!!

• Scaffolded screens for MVP

• Building out scaffolded pages

• Building out test data
• Scaffolding services and wiring in test data

• Wrapping up home screen build out

• Completed initial build of the WaitingRoom home screen
• Starting work on building backend--easier to work on data from a real data source vs mocked-up json files ;-)
• Reviewed MVP project tasks

• Reconfiguring repos and project structure to better support growth as I build out the app, backend, website, etc.

• Neck deep in backend land, building out GraphQL API and data models

• More backend API work

• Building tests for backend/API

• Refactoring data model design
• Building seed test data

• Fixed nagging issue with my API and automated tests
• Building out automated API tests
• Updating work items associated with tests
• Rockin' the automated API tests, should have the first round built out by the end of this weekend, if not sooner ;-)

• Built out 2 more automated API end point tests--all green :-)
• Targeting completion of initial API tests for tomorrow, then back to the front end screens and wiring in API to get data this weekend.

• Wrapped up another set of automated tests for API

• Chipping away at API

• Refactoring backend for extensibility
• Updating API tests
• Next up: wiring in test data from backend

• Day job taking some attention away
• Continuing work on some API refactoring, data and tests
• Fixed issue with API
• Working on wrapping up minimal API implementation to get data returning back to the screens

• Long week at the day job, taking a short break
• Picking things back up tomorrow AM

• Wrapped up initial API build
• Jumping back to wiring in API to front end

• Getting things done around the house

• Day job took my time today, picking back up with side project work tomorrow 😎

Day job has been taking my time, dropping in to check in...Next up:

• Finish wiring in API to primary front end screens
• Take screen shots of screens
• Update landing/sales page content

• Fixed issue around CORS and the API

• Time with my wife today
• Starting a week of vacation, will be working on wrapping up wiring in API to feed data to primary front end screens in the next couple of days
• Looking to make more progress over the coming week with free time ;-)

• Completed wiring up main page to backend/API

• Working on Appointments/Scheduling screen

• Continuing to build out the Appointments screen

• Wrapping up Appointments screen
• More work on the Appointments screen, added check to see if any appointments are within 30 minutes, and if so, display option to check in.

I have been pretty terrible at consistency lately, when it comes to at least checking in. I am still plugging away at the project and continue to battle the ebb and flow of the day job demands on time. BUT, I am not giving up, just taking the slow road at the current moment. With that, here is my current status:

• Working with an event calendar component that I purchased, getting it wired into the scheduling and availability screens (lesson learned: buy before re-inventing the wheel--it's better to pay up and get something that is solid instead of trying to build something that will take weeks and addresses common yet tricky problems...)
• Once the calendar is wired in, I will wrap up basic build out of the rest of the primary screens needed for screen shots to post on the landing/sales page.

• Working on check-in functionality

• In Puerto Rico taking care of family business, return tomorrow ready to jump back in

• Jumping back in, working on wrapping up screens for screen shots
• Documented release plan for beta launch

• more tweaks for screen shots

• Coming up for air with the day job

• Start...stop...start...stop...
• Still going, though, dealing with a lot of change at day job

• working out logic for available appointments screen

• Worked out the scheduling availability logic
• Started building out the logic behind Available Appointments screen

Back at it...

• working on scheduling availability screen for screen shot
• scheduled out the release plan for beta launch

• Some refactoring work on screens
• Revising beta launch release schedule

Still here, summer craziness/family travels wrapping up. Resetting/continuing work on WaitingRoom and Nugget coursework too ;-)

• Checking in, plan is to get back and hit this thing next week and push through to get it done after wrapping up other projects that have taken priority the past several months.

• Crawl out from under my rock
• Completed conversion of core app to React
• Work on NotificationItem component
• Review current position in the Nugget course

• Created base screen structure
• Refactoring landing page, adding Blog component

• Standing up development blog

• mapped out navigation/screen flow
• marketing site planning

• Created short list of blog/podcast topics

• Stood up headless CMS for blog
• Started building out the site's blog integration

• Building out front end blog components
• Working initial content topic list and outlines

• Working simple blog component styling, getting ready to start publishing :-)

• Finished basic blog component styling, enough to deploy, shift gears and start working on creating and publishing content 🤓

• Deployed updated site and blog (waiting for DNS changes to propagate)
• Content work begins--links will be provided once changes propagate

• Raw version of waitingroom.us/ deployed to new hosting
• Added navigation
• Minor styling tweaks
• Blog set up with 3 dummy posts, will be replacing soon with actual content ;-) waitingroom.us/blog

• Crafted follow up email and sent to initial subscribers
• Started building out cold outreach email list
• Working on cold outreach email

• Built 2nd follow-up email automation for subscribers

• Writing series of blog posts, completed first 2, writing 1 post per day
• Continued building out contact list