Choose a real recurring problem and name the person who has it.
Project Dogfood
AN ONGOING PROJECT
Solve problems close enough to feel. Publish the work, the tradeoffs, and the reasons we choose another tool when ours falls short.
Build it. Use it. Earn your own preference.
PUT IT TO WORK
- Name a recurring task and the person doing it.
- Use your tool beside the alternative you already trust.
- Write down what made you switch away, then choose the next improvement.
START WITH THE IDEA
The idea in brief.
Build something you have a reason to reach for. Actual use reveals friction that a pitch or an imagined customer cannot. The aim is to understand a real need closely, then solve it well enough that someone beyond the builder would care.
An imagined customer
- Guess the need
- Build the pitch
- Assume someone will use it
A problem you can feel
- Do the real task
- Notice where the tool loses
- Improve and use it again
THE DIRECTION
What we’re working toward.
Make the tool useful beyond one person’s habits.
Record what worked, what failed, and what changed.
HOW WE THINK ABOUT THE WORK
Principles with practical consequences.
Preference is evidence
If you choose another product after building your own, pay attention. The missing capability, extra effort, or lost trust is a concrete improvement signal. Loyalty to your code is not a useful test.
Close to the need, broad enough to matter
Your habits can reveal a problem without defining the whole market. Find other people who share the need, watch their work, and distinguish a useful opinion from a quirk only you value.
Specialize with a reason
A focused product can serve a smaller community exceptionally well. A broader product needs a need that remains coherent across its audience. Price, value, and the number of people you can serve are connected decisions.
A SMALL WORKING PRACTICE
Put the principle to work.
Name a recurring task and the person doing it.
Use your tool beside the alternative you already trust.
Write down what made you switch away, then choose the next improvement.
FROM IDEAS TO TOOLS
Explore the related work.
Each example gives you a task, something to look for, and a next decision. Product pages describe the current demos, releases, and source availability.
Notes →
Write, organize, and connect your notes in a focused workspace.
A task to try
Capture an idea you will need again.
What to look for
Can you find and understand the note later without remembering exactly where you put it?
Next decision. Compare the same task with your current notes tool; record the first point of friction.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Tasks →
Plan projects, organize tasks, and make room for what matters today.
A task to try
Turn a real obligation into a next action.
What to look for
Does the task view help you choose what to do today, or leave the planning work to you?
Next decision. Try one recurring workflow and identify the missing step that sends you elsewhere.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Contacts →
Keep contact details, groups, and relationships organized.
A task to try
Keep the context behind a relationship.
What to look for
Can you recover who someone is and why the connection matters?
Next decision. Read the Contacts → People → Calendar field note for the demonstrated connection; standalone demos have their own scope.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Calendar →
Plan your time with events, recurring schedules, and clear calendar views.
A task to try
Make a plan you can follow.
What to look for
Check whether creating and reviewing an event feels clear enough to use repeatedly.
Next decision. Compare one ordinary scheduling task with the calendar you already prefer.
Explore the app with demonstration data.
Follow the code.
Published repositories identify their own license and release status. The Open Source and Pro Source pages explain the two paths.
READ IT IN ORDER
A path through the ideas.
The Dogfood Notebook →
From a problem you feel to a tool that earns its place.
Building with AI →
A thesis about specificity, followed by a standard for testing it.
PRINCIPLES & FIELD NOTES
Follow the work.
principle 1 min read
Project Dogfood
Building the tools we use to build the business—and showing the work.
Project Dogfoodfield note 1 min readOne person, connected across apps
What we observed when a contact changed while a calendar event was open.
Project Dogfood · Project Raise the Roofprinciple 2 min readYour product must earn your use
Dogfooding begins with an honest preference, not a story about an imagined customer.
Project Dogfoodprinciple 3 min readFind the right-sized niche
Specialize around a real problem. Generalize when the need and your capabilities justify it.
Project Dogfood · Project Top Gunprinciple 3 min readBoutique software at scale
AI may change the economics of specificity. Empathy and feedback still decide whether the result is useful.
Project Dogfood · Project Raise the Rooffield note 3 min readConnections should preserve context
A note, a task, and a person should keep their meaning when the work moves between tools.
Project Dogfood · Project Raise the RoofAS THE WORK DEVELOPS
Project updates.
A clearer way to follow the project
The project now has the same compact detail layout and tabs as Research, with principles, practical build examples, reading paths, and connections collected in one place.
The project hub is open
The first reading paths and related tools are collected here. These are the project’s aims; individual product pages describe current availability.
ONE BODY OF WORK
Follow the connections.
Project Top Gun →
Dogfood finds the friction worth solving; Top Gun asks whether the resulting tool beats a strong alternative on a defined task.
Project Raise the Floor →
A tool that earns its place can become a useful starting point for other people.
Project Raise the Roof →
Recurring tasks reveal where a connected workspace could remove repeated effort without losing context.
See the larger picture.
The content graph follows project membership, shared posts, reading paths, topics, and referenced tools. Every connection has a stated reason.
For agents: the public index includes project principles, build examples, dated updates, and related posts.