Shoptalk Show 516 — Shipping creative work and "Twitter-driven development"

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The most recent @ShopTalkShow episode didn't disappoint 👌 I loved the convo on the toll of "not shipping"—i.e., not releasing work/creations/projects—and the impact that has on individuals and businesses. I feel this in my bones. shoptalkshow.com/516/

I love releasing my creations into the world. Nothing beats that feeling. It doesn't matter whether I'm releasing a client project, blog post, Twitter thread, or newsletter. What matters is that *I released something* 🏆

Regularly shipping work is crucial. Long-term momentum provides small victories that lead to big victories! I used to be too focused on the big victories, which was a negative feedback loop. Trying to enjoy the smallest victories has made me much happier and more content.

I find it hard to ship projects, though. Or at least, I think I do 🤷🏻‍♂️ Like, I have wayyy more blog post drafts than published posts. I want to get better at publishing more blog posts, but it's still not something I consistently do. I consistently write, though, which is good.

This is why I'm happy I write every day; thousands of words. I'm always learning, thinking, and writing. These are core practices that keep me moving forward. And as of right now, what I write gets published less frequently 🤙

“Get the practice right, and your commitment will open the door for the market to engage with your work.” —Seth Godin

I often recall "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield when thinking about creative work. "Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance." Good stuff 👌🏻 indiebound.org/book/9781936891023

Now I'm reflecting on: How am I impacted by shipping creative work and not shipping creative work? Something to think about... but what matters is *actually doing the work.*

Also, that "Twitter-Driven Development" joke that @chriscoyier mentioned is hilarious 😂 At least the folks at @CodePen who embraced this terrifying TDD approach were shipping some meaningful work 👌🏻

That's more than what we can say for Twitter. They have how many thousands of engineers, and this is what we get—cryptocurrency scams, half-baked weak-ass content editing experience, no desktop app, forced algorithms, and NO INNOVATION WHATSOEVER 😡 twitter.com/KeenanPayne_/status/1527687261403291648

Twitter and countless other companies exist for little more than to funnel billions of dollars into the hands of a very few wealthy people while offering a mediocre product that we all use because of market monopolization or some cultural/societal consensus 🤷🏻‍♂️

At least @typefully exists 🙏🏻 But think about it—how much would it theoretically cost to build an app like Typefully in-house at Twitter? Does it cost $10m? $100m? $500m? $1b? Idfk. BUT I SURE AS HELL KNOW IT COSTS LESS THAN $30B 🤯

Nah, corporations get complacent because executives don't care about anything other than making money. So everyone sits around checking boxes for whatever projects validate everyone's employment 🤦🏻‍♂️ /rant

ANYHOW, the episode is great. Go give it a listen and you too can rant on the internet to nobody in particular. Thanks @chriscoyier and @davatron5000 for consistently shipping a dope podcast ✌️ Y'all are killing it.

You wanna know what I just did? I shipped a Twitter thread and published it with @typefully because their app works like magic ✨ You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: typefully.com/KeenanPayne_/Q9oMR2p