Random Thoughts

Quite a number of software sold nowadays have a trial period which ranges from a couple of weeks to thirty days or more. This trial period is enables you to evaluate the software and see if it is applicable to your needs. During this time it is possible that you may notice some defect or a missing feature that eventually prevents you from buying the software.

No software developer wants to lose a possible sale, most especially because the application has some defect or is lacking in features. In order to prevent this situation software authors engage in a practice called “dogfooding“. It is the practice of using one’s own products.

The advantage of using this technique is that the product gets used in real-world situations some of which may or may not have been covered during the testing phase of product development. It brings to fore missing features, if any, that may make the product more marketable. Annoying features that can be improved or completely removed are sometimes discovered as well.

From the very beginning this has been the case with VeriTime because it was the result of my need to keep track of the time I spent in my contracting gigs towards the end of the 1990s. It never occurred to me to look for a time tracking shareware application. I decided to write one from scratch which I did in the evenings and weekends.

When it reached a usable state I started using it in my gigs. As I continued using it I started noticing certain features that were not present and so I added them. Later, I began revisiting some of the previous features I added and either removed or changed them. I did this because they’ve become redundant or did not fit in the direction where VeriTime was going. I can say that ninety percent (90%) of the features found in is the result of dogfooding and the remaining ten percent (10%) suggestions from VeriTime users.