At the eye of the storm

We are now ~2 weeks from launching Weavolution, and things are REALLY busy.  In addition to my day job, I’ve been spending 4-6 hours a day working on Weavolution – reviewing the site, filing/triaging bugs, addressing issues brought up by the alpha testers, coordinating with our development contractor, etcetera.  LOTS of etc.

I have to confess, if I’d realized how impossibly much work this was going to be, how many people would be required, and how complex the juggling act would become, I might not have started this project.  Fortunately, I had no idea how difficult it would be; and, as with many other things, you can do lots of things that are impossible if you just don’t know it’s impossible.  This is one  of those cases.

Regardless, I am enjoying the process; it’s fun playing with the site, and the alpha tester feedback, while overwhelming at the start, is tapering off as people finish playing with the system.  So now it’s time to get down to work.

For example, the help system needs to be written.  Actually, it needs to be designed.  I’m doing that today, and will send it out to the help volunteers to review.  After that it goes out to our development contractor to implement.  And then we can have the help volunteers write the help.  I need to make sure that all the topics get written, are accurate, and write any that didn’t find owners.

A big chunk of the website is being delivered today.  As soon as it is, I will need to test it, verify that everything promised has  been delivered, and that it functions correctly.  The volunteers will test it as well, but I’m the one responsible, in the end, for making sure everything works.

Advertising needs to be set up.  The basic system is there but it needs a lot of tweaking before I can turn it loose with advertiser accounts.

Legal stuff needs to be implemented.  Can’t forget the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy!

Lots of minor changes…spelling corrections, UI problems, etc.  Small details but they have a big effect on people’s impression of the website…important to fix!

That’s just the tip of the iceberg…there are a thousand details that need checking, and it’s a little overwhelming.  Fortunately we have an excellent team of dedicated and energetic volunteers, without whom this would be simply impossible.  But at the center of the maelstrom, it is definitely not quiet.

Which makes it all the more surprising that I’ve made significant progress on the weaving.  I have now beamed on just over 1/2 the warp, and expect to finish beaming on today, in between Weavolution, a two-hour bike ride, and some house cleaning.  I haven’t been on a bike in over a month and need to start getting back in shape!  But I think I can get the warp beamed this weekend, and maybe 1/4 of the threading done?

Only time will tell…