Natural Habitat

Have you ever met someone who is just so in their element that you are in awe of what they can accomplish, all with a smile on their face?  I'm having that experience now.  Sahil Lavingia of One Week App fame is rocking it the way all software developers should.  It's that perfect Zen coding experience.

I signed up as a beta tester for his app, Dayta, and spent a couple days back and forth with him getting his app to load on my iPod touch.  I felt like I was getting in his way, but he kept at it, and we got it working this morning.  I clicked around, got a crash, found a couple of minor tweaks he could make, and sent him my crash report and suggestions.  He emailed me back that he fixed those in an hour.  How many of you can sit down and space out at your desk for an hour?

This experience got me thinking... what Sahil has created is his own little slice of the world that plays to his strengths.  You can call it finding his passion, being in the zone, or whatever slick phrase you want to use, but he's got it.  His website is a model for how good software developers work.  He's showing constant progress, getting regular feedback, and getting into the heads of his customers.  Granted, his app is targeted at geeks that get into this kind of thing, but you can still make a decent living targeting that group.

Watching his website is like watching the making of special feature on a DVD while the moving is still being shot.  What a ride.