August 2023 - Life Update

Hello from rainy London. While the rest of Europe has seemingly been on fire for the past few weeks, it's been typical wet and windy weather here in Britain.

🤓 What I've been doing

We released an update to Nearly, allowing users to share threads with others and improved performance of the app as a whole. A lot of work at the moment behind the scenes is improving app reliability and our growth strategy.
I've become a cyclist! Thanks to a government scheme, I save 40% on the cost of the bike and pay monthly. The amount I save from not taking the Tube for one week covers the monthly cost 🤯
After training with my PT for a month, I've reached 240kg on the leg press. I'm pretty confident that by the end of the month, I'll be able to at least get 300kg for one rep.

📚 What I've been reading

Men and Rubber, Harvey Firestone - This book is ~100 years old, but is still relevant today. It's about how Harvey grew Firestone Tires to being on the largest tire makers globally. Harvey prioritised deep-thinking and did not have time for those who came to quick and ill-judged decisions.

"Quick decisions that have not behind them a long train of thought are exceedingly dangerous. Personally, I do not want to have around me the kind of man who can give me an instant decision on anything I may bring up, for, if he has not had the opportunity to give the question serious thought, then he is only guessing. And I can do my own guessing!"

🔮 What's coming up

This month, the development work on Nearly focuses on reliability. I'm re-architecting the push notification system to make it more scalable and reworking the views and view models for testability.
The football season starts up again this month. Today, I go to a friendly match and then on Sunday to Wembley for inaugural game of the season. When the season stops, it feels like there's a large gap in my life!