Introduction

Over the last years, I tried to pick up app development for iOS and macOS. I did a lot of tutorials, proof of concepts (poc) and even small tools for my own very personal use. So far, I have failed with a goal of mine: having my own app on the App Store.

My motivation is not to make a ton of money out of it–even though I would not mind if it would also end up in some profit–but rather be part of the game.

I am at a stage where I think I am dangerous enough skill-wise to create something of use. I can imagine creating something for my own needs–dogfooding–that could end up being useful to others as well. If I can get to the 80% of “done”, that should be good enough. (Pareto, anyone?)

Recently, I met someone who had an interest in learning Swift/SwiftUI. I told him about the “100 days of”-concept and specifically about the “100 days of Swift” by Paul Hudson. The newer iteration of this course, “100 days of SwiftUI” is using the SwiftUI framework as a basis, which is what I'd recommend now. It seems as though that sparked something in that person to really start the program.

The plan

That made me consider (practice what you preach, baby) to also starting my own 100 days. In the end, the concept is to dedicate a certain amount of time to something each day, be communicative about your effort on social media (to be held accountable) to have a better motivation to reach your goal(s). So why not “just” do it with your own program and your own goal? This is where “100 days of finally having an app in the App Store” starts. 😀

Here’s the gist of my plan:

• Dedicate at least 1 hour / day on this project
• Do this for 100 days
• Toot (yes, toot!) about it once a day on Mastadon
• Write a blogpost with the bigger picture once a week
• At the end of these 100 days, have an app on the App Store

While I don’t have each and every day planned out, I think the key factor will be just the time dedicated to that project (while also working 100%, attending to family, having hobbies). That should really make a difference. I also think that the first course of action will be to create a rough plan for the 100 days, and then build up more detailed plans as I go, perhaps even on a weekly basis?

These are the plans for the first week:

• Set up the project’s website
• Toot the first toot on Mastadon under @appfrosch@social.dev-wiki.de
• Consolidate all the app ideas and poc I did over the course of the last years
• Find at least one itch I really want to scratch that should end up in the final app