Life changed quite a bit. I spent some time in Nicaragua with my family, and since my mom's diagnosis there are new responsibilities and a different rhythm to our lives. I'm back in Dublin now, trying to return to my routines while still helping my family from a distance.

So #Deeditt had to sit quietly for a while, but I never really stopped using it.

During these months I used it consistently, especially #memories. Living between very different days, places and circumstances gave me plenty to record, and using the product without constantly developing it was surprisingly useful.

Some things clearly need fixing, other things confirmed that they work exactly as I hoped.

More importantly, the break gave me some distance from my own ideas.

In my previous update I wrote about something I was observing: people were using Memories and private reflection much more naturally than public Deeds and Journeys, at the time I said I wanted both sides to be used equally.

I'm not so sure anymore that this is something I should try to force. There's only so far you can push an idea beyond what people naturally understand or want to do, maybe the answer isn't another feature.

#Deeditt is mature and stable enough now that there isn't much that needs to be built. Actually, I'm starting to think some things should be shortened, simplified or removed.

I'll experiment with that.

Over the next few weeks I'll make some changes, update the mobile app and try different ways of presenting and reaching people, but with limited time, I also have to be much more deliberate about what deserves to be built.

People still ask me what's happening with Deeditt and what comes next. Interestingly, some of the most curious have never actually used it 😄

That's human too.

Maybe this stage of Building Deeditt is less about pushing the product toward what I imagined it should become, and more about paying attention to what people — including myself — actually use when nobody is pushing them.

"Sometimes not building for a while teaches you something that building continuously can't".