Setting Up Your Product - Idea, Planning, Implementation, And More In An Interview
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| Setting Up Your Product - Idea, Planning, Implementation, And More In An Interview |
But it is not easy, especially when it comes to an online tool.
In today's interview, I'm talking to the developer of an online vacation management team about how his tool came about. There are experiences, insights, and tips.
Hello Mr. Walther, Please Introduce Yourself To My Readers
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| Setting Up Your Product |
Hello dear readers, my name is Simon Walther and I am the founder of Timetape.de. Timetape is a paperless vacation management solution for small and medium-sized companies.
I am 30 years young and live with my little daughter and wife in beautiful Aschaffenburg. In 2010 I started my own business as a programmer to set up my product at some point to earn a living with it.
What Do You Do For A Living And How Did You Get Into Web Development?
In 2001 I started my training as an IT specialist, which I completed in 2004. During my apprenticeship, I had contact with various web programming languages in addition to Linux. I found the topic exciting and did a lot of tinkering and trying things out in my free time. Among other things, a party image portal was created, but it no longer exists.
After my apprenticeship, I worked for a programming company for many years, where I developed complex shop systems for the mobile phone contract industry. During this time I had a lot to do with different technologies and was able to develop in several directions.
You Started An Online Service With Timetape.de. What Exactly Is It About?
Timetape.de is a vacation management/absence management for small and medium-sized companies. With Timetape every employee can manage their vacation online: Vacation applications are no longer laboriously filled out and submitted on paper, but quickly and easily processed on the PC, notebook, or smartphone. Bosses, supervisors, or department heads also approve or reject the vacation with just a few clicks of the mouse.
By displaying department calendars, every employee can see at a glance when their colleagues are on vacation. This makes planning your vacation and choosing a possible replacement easier. Manpower can be better planned for projects, as department heads can use a clear calendar to see when which employees are available.
In addition to vacation planning, absences such as illness, vocational school, or business trips can be recorded and viewed by work colleagues.
Every company can configure Timetape individually and adapt it to the relevant needs. For example, several departments, locations, and different working time models can be managed. In addition, you can maintain e-mail texts yourself and define absence types.
How Did You Come Up With The Idea And How Did It Go?
Every employee knows the classic questions about vacation: “How many vacation days do I still have?” Or “When do my colleagues have a vacation?” Or “Why has my vacation application been lost again?”
The HR department also has to constantly answer questions about the vacation account and is thus kept from their actual work. I wanted to improve this condition and I thought to myself: "It has to be more efficient."
Conversations with friends who complained about the sloppy vacation planning at their company ultimately led me to wonder how this could be better resolved. At some point, the idea was born and I invested countless hours, evenings, and nights in my free time to get the project off the ground in addition to my independence.
The implementation went quite well. Timetape was not the first project on this scale, so I already knew where to start.
Did You Analyze Beforehand Whether There Was Any Interest And How Quickly Did You Go Public With The First Version?
I searched the Internet for comparable systems but found nothing that met my expectations in terms of scope and functions. I also asked my friends and acquaintances how the various companies manage their employees' vacations.
It quickly became clear that old-fashioned written vacation requests are still used mainly and that most of them were not satisfied with them. That further motivated me to push the project forward.
The development time up to the first version then took about 1 year.
What Important Experiences Did You Gain From The Implementation? What Would You Do Differently Today?
I chose to grow slowly from the start so as not to collapse in a major rush. It was always important to me that the system ran stably and that I could meet almost all of my customers' other wishes.
Especially when the project starts and the first customers are interested, it is very exciting to see what ideas the customers have about functions. This then shows whether you have considered all eventualities.
Today I would do everything the same way again because the system has worked well and is stable so far.
Who Is Timetape.de For And What Are The Advantages For Me?
Timetape can be used with 2, 30, 100, or 500 employees. I would say it's a perfect fit for small and medium-sized businesses. The training period for employees is almost zero, as zeitape can be used intuitively and no training is required.
Everyone in the company has constant access to the information they need. The fact that everything can always be reached from anywhere is only a minor argument in the age of the Internet.
Thanks to the online service, nothing has to be installed: After a short configuration, tailored to the needs of the company, you can start right away and save time, paper, and thus money.
How Exactly Is The Service Used And Are There Interfaces For The Companies?
Timetape can be operated with any internet browser. The system independently sends important e-mails and informs the department heads, e.g. about the receipt of new vacation requests, or employees about rejected or approved vacation.
In addition, you can integrate an external calendar into your e-mail program and you are constantly informed in real-time.
an XML API, all important data can be exported and processed in other systems.
Data Protection is More and More an Issue. How Does It Look at Timetape.de?
I think data protection is an important issue for everyone in the world. Nobody wants mischief with their data or the data of their company.
I treat the data from Timetape as if it were my own - at least! It is hosted in Germany by a provider in the region with whom I have been working well for several years. In my experience, hosting problems can be solved the fastest if you can easily establish direct contact with the provider.
All data from Timetape is of course transmitted SSL encrypted. If there are more than 200 employees, I also offer installation in your network with certain system requirements.
What is The Business Model Behind Timetape.de? Can You Make A Living From It Now or in The Future?
I want to be able to live on Timetape, it should be able to support my wife and children. Money is necessary to live, but not priority 1.
My goal is not to become a millionaire, life should be fun and leave time for family, friends, and hobbies. It is important to me that my customers have a beautiful product that they enjoy working with and are satisfied with.
Finally, I Would Like To Know How Important Vacations Are To You As A Self-Employed Person and Why?
Holidays are important to clear your head and recharge your batteries in between. When I am on vacation, I often get good ideas that I might not have come up with in my normal work.
It doesn't always have to be the big long-haul trip - a few days off, a change of scenery, is often enough to bring in a breath of fresh air. As a self-employed person, I want to be able to switch off from time to time and spend time with the family.
Thank you for the interview.
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