67: Refining Level Notifications and Tuple Alpha Users

Description

Derrick had an interesting week with Level. He focused on important features that will be a part of the product, including notifications dependent on team members’ jobs. Some may want more asynchronous and unobtrusive notifications than others. Level distinguishes configurable notifications based on different roles on a team. Notification policies seem simple on the surface, but are actually very complicated.

Ben announced that November was Tuple’s best month ever for marketing! But now, he is approaching the alpha for Tuple and will focus his attention on product management. Ben wants to figure out what works and what doesn’t. After all, when you can see the wrong thing, the right thing becomes so much easier.

Today’s Topics Include:

Derrick gained clarity on how things should work in Level by writing code and playing with different ideas
When in doubt about design, Derrick takes a screenshot of Level to put on Twitter and get feedback; keeps people invested in the process
Derrick is developing a thick skin and trying to not be defensive about design comments
Level will offer opt-ins and education that help users protect their time and priorities
Ben plans to pair with people using Tuple to identify UX annoyances
Tuple is about to crack the 3,000 people milestone on its mailing list
Level received new refers and spikes in traffic; awareness is building
How to continue to grow your tribe? Opportunities to have an audience when you’re doing interesting stuff
Level’s content strategy will focus on high-quality content, not high-volume content; Derrick plans to commit to cadence of consistency
Can spend time on something, and years later, people still go to it as a valuable reference
Ben wants to open up sales for the Habits for Hackers course, but limit the number of spots available; he’s considering a reverse auction
Derrick’s been considering creative ways to structure pre-orders and pre-sales for Level; trying to decide whether to turn off pre-orders

Links and resources:

Art of Product on Twitter

Derrick Reimer Website

Derrick Reimer on Twitter

Ben Orenstein Website

Ben Orenstein on Twitter

103: Steve Schoger - Design Q&A + Refactoring UI Details