I spent more than twenty years bringing other people's ideas to life.
Industrial engineer by training, self-taught software developer by trade — I started writing code in '98 and somehow never stopped. Most of that time I was building things for other people. Their visions, their roadmaps, their launch dates. Last year I broke that cycle and started developing my own products; even if they don't make money, they provide an enjoyable journey for me.
A year ago I started asking again and started to produce myself and this site ProductLog is the last link in the chain.
The platform problem
Build in public has become a cultural movement among indie makers. The idea is simple: share what you're working on while you're working on it. Show the messy middle. Let people in.
The problem is that there isn't actually a place to do this.
X is loud. The algorithm rewards hot takes over honest work-in-progress. A maker shipping their tenth update of the month gets buried under engagement bait.
Product Hunt is great for one day. Indie Hackers is great for milestones. Neither is where the daily practice of building lives.
So makers cobble together their own setup. A Notion for the roadmap. A Twitter thread for the journey. A Google Form for feedback. A Discord for the community. None of it talks to each other. Most of it doesn't last.
The tool I needed for myself
Here's the part I almost left out of this post, because it sounds self-serving. It's the most important part.
ProductLog isn't only or even primarily a platform I'm building for other people. It's a tool I need for myself.
I have other projects coming. Things I want to ship under my own name, on my own terms, on my own schedule. Each of them will need a product page, a place to post updates, a roadmap, a feedback loop. Each of them needs to be built in public if I want to follow the kind of practice I admire.
I could use Product Hunt for launch day. I could use a Notion page for the roadmap. I could stick five different tools together for each project and eventually lose track of how I use them, becoming disorganized.
Or I could build the thing I need once, use it for every project I ship from now on, and let other makers use it too while I'm at it.
ProductLog is the tool. It happens to be the platform too. The fact that the same product serves both roles is what makes it different from anything else in this space. If I don't use it daily for my own work, no one else should either.
This also means ProductLog won't get abandoned. The classic risk with community platforms is that the founder loses interest after the first wave of users. I can't lose interest. The next project I ship will need ProductLog. So will the one after that.
What ProductLog is trying to be
A home for the practice, not the performance.
A place where a maker can show their product, ship updates about it, publish a roadmap, collect feedback from real users, and discover what other indie makers are working on without any of it being about chasing engagement. The work, the people doing it, and the small rituals that keep the practice going.
No algorithm that buries your tenth post. No streak that punishes you for missing a day. No pressure to be entertaining. Just the work.
Why now
I'm forty-something. I have a family, a day job's worth of responsibilities, and exactly one hour a day to spend on this. I'm not going to raise money. I'm not going to hire a team. I'm not going to launch with a viral video.
What I have is a long career of shipping software, a real opinion about what's wrong with how makers work online, and the patience to build this slowly in public, in front of whoever is interested.
ProductLog is being built on ProductLog. Every update is here. Every roadmap item is here. Every decision I'm uncertain about is here. If you're a maker who wants the same kind of home for your own work, the platform is open. If you just want to watch how this gets built, that works too.
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