Custom

I’ve been working on a project where I’m taking an open source application and fitting it to the needs of a client. Like buying a pair of jeans at Old Navy and having them hemmed to fit you right. It will fit better but it won’t quite be perfect. Sometimes better is good enough.

This project has really helped reinforce my love for custom solutions to problems. With custom software I don’t just change the hem but instead I get to choose the material I want to work with, measure it all out perfectly, and stitch it together with precision.

Sometimes having a product with a general feature set is good. I like that my phone is a camera so I don’t need to carry both. But sometimes a general feature set just gets in the way of what you’re trying to do. Trying to make things generic makes everything a little bit worse.