Fliptabify Design Principles

Here are the design principles that drive the development of Fliptabify.

All of the principles center around this one goal: Fliptabify should just work.

The Fliptabify Design Principles

Don't Make Me Repeat Myself

Fliptabify shouldn't require you to repeat stuff you've already done on Shopify.

Don't Make Me Think

Fliptabify should have good defaults to give a configuration-less experience.

No Admin Section

Fliptabify shouldn't have an admin section to force simple features and minimal configuration.

SCP excluding .git & other dot files/folders

Quick command to scp your git repo to your server without copying .git & other dot files/folders:
scp -r [!.]* sandeep@server:/path/to/docroot

You can use this hack to store stuff in your repo (in dot files/folders) that you don't want to deploy to your production server. 

Workflow vs. Tools

Workflow is more important than tools.

- Getting Shit Done

Unitasking

I noticed something interesting the day I was confined to just 13" of screen space. Even though I couldn't see everything I needed to operate and reference at once, I became more focused. Only seeing one window at a time enabled me to mentally hunker down on the task at hand. My actions felt purposeful; my decisions, deliberate. Surprisingly, my productivity didn't suffer. I did slow down, but also experienced a calm efficiency--similar to that which is required when fastening the innumerable rows of snaps on a screaming baby's pajamas. If you rush, you're going to mess up; if you miss snaps, it's going to take longer. And rushing makes you sweat. Never let the baby see you sweat.

- Unitasking 

Pricing Parking

When to collect?

• On entry
• Increases entry time resulting in longer entry queues.
• Bad idea when customers are anxious to get in and might negatively affect repeat visit rates especially during peak hours/days.
• On the way out
• Decreases entry time resulting in smaller entry queues.
• Longer exit queues
• Might be better than long entry queues?

What to charge?

• Fixed Price
• Simplest model.
• Can be collected at either entry or exit.
• Based on time (e.g., by the hour)
• Can only be collected at exit as it is variable.
• Uncertainty of price
• Can be mitigated by limiting the maximum price and marginally increasing price over just a few time intervals (2 interval example: $x for 0-3 hours, $x+y for 3-10 hours where y is marginal).
• Might influence customer behaviour to a small degree
• Might incentivise customers to leave early
• A  free for first x minutes policy might reinforce this.
• Based on demand and supply (charge more when supply cannot keep up with demand)
• Can be fixed or metered.
• Can be collected at either entry or exit if it is fixed and at exit only if it is metered.
• Might significantly influence customer behaviour
• Disincentivises casual customers from coming during peek hours.

Related

• On why charging for parking makes sense and dynamic pricing