Ep 14 — Unexpected things I learned through building Sato — Universal Translator 0.0.1

Creating delightful experience requires lots of trial-and-error. There are no real shortcuts. I believe the key is to make each iteration short and fun. But how?

Eliminate the little things that consume developer time quietly, in particular, those invisible delays that multiply hundreds of times a day.

These are the top 7 tips I learned while making Sato — Universal Translator 0.0.1.

1. Internet latency: find an ISP that offers the best. Very high ROI if you think about the thousands of network calls you make every single day.
2. 1+ seconds browser tab startup time because of home page loading: always start a tab with a blank page. (just do the math: how many times do you start a new tab/window in a day, a month or a year?)
3. Anti-virus file scanning: find the lightest one and tune the heck out of it. (case in point: unzipping a recently downloaded Android SDK involves virus scanning of 155,370 files! That hour-glass is evil.)
4. Frequent window resizing: get BIG monitor (You can get a 27″ monitor for less than $200 these days.)
5. Slow build/deploy time in Android Studio: disable Instant Run (I know, this one is counter-intuitive… just try it.)
6. Test data cleanups: automate DB resets.
7. Slow deployment to iOS app store: setup fastlane.tools.

Optimization doesn’t mean you don’t take ☕ breaks, just not those “forced breaks” caused by sluggish processes.

I look at it this way:

You can give yourself a full afternoon off to read, think or learn every week, just by trimming 6 minutes out of your hourly routine.

It’s entirely do-able. The effort is often paid off handsomely.