Is it time to wrap up Wrapped?

This year, every product is trying to copy Spotify, with their own flavour of “Wrapped”.

It works better for some tools than others.

However, I think it jumped the shark when my bank did it - by linking to a generic page with some stats, and nothing personalised or especially interesting.

Just because Spotify does it, doesn’t mean you should, too.

I didn’t think much of Spotify Wrapped 2024. Last year was great. This year, it was shorter, and a bit bland. It seems I’m not the only one who was disappointed.

Newsletter update, and building new sites

I was just starting to build up some momentum here - and then I stopped posting.

Truth is, I ran out of ideas at almost exactly the same time as my day job got busier. A perfect storm.

Elsewhere, I tried setting up a public Notion site for my music. It’s ok, but as I use Notion a lot at work, a Notion-based personal site feels a bit too much like I’m still at work.

However, it did help with coming up with a concept - probably better than on WordPress.

Here’s my WordPress site: (Link: GFD Music)

And here’s what I made in Notion: (Link: GFD on Notion)

Although it’s hard to find a good, free, WordPress theme (or frankly, even a good paid theme), the WordPress site looks nicer. Notion is a bit bland and empty, and suffers from “same font syndrome”.

However, Notion is excellent at hosting custom databases, such as a list of all my tracks.

At this rate, I’m probably going to end up building something, and replace both of my earlier attempts.

I could really do with a good designer…

Embracing the multi-topic chaos

I’ve long wrestled with the issue of choosing a topic for my writing.

The problem is, I like a lot of things - and I know I can’t sustain multiple sites, each with its own topic. Most would be neglected.

Yet, I get bored if I pick just one thing to write about.

Perhaps this newsletter can help.

If I focus on building my side projects, I can come back to this newsletter to share how those projects are going, along with anything I’ve learned along the way.

Hence the new subtitle for this newsletter - What I’m working on. I know, it’s not exactly groundbreaking… but it’s a start.

I can also write about topics that I’ve not spun off to a completely separate blog, such as my short intro about Wrapped.

I’ll still write about product management… particularly if there’s a topic you’d be interested to read about. (Let me know!) And I might do more with Quick Product Tips next year, too.

That’s all for now. It’s nearly Christmas… if you celebrate, have a good one. If you don’t, well… don’t! 😁 

Ben