Every project has a story. For Daily Dev Habit, that story begins with a common developer problem: the pain of lost context.
The “Before” Picture: A Web of Fuzzy Connections
Before I left for WordCamp US in Portland, Oregon, my days were a blur of context-switching. I was juggling my day job, architecting OcalaRepair, and rebooting One Off Boss. Hopping between these complex projects was taxing; I’d return to one after a few days away, and the details would escape me. At work there is a little more structure, but in personal projects, I don’t give myself Jira tickets and I do not log any time.
I knew I needed a better tool, a more intentional process. I had started a small side project called ‘auto-doc’ to try and solve this for myself. But as I was leaving for vacation, it was set to the back burner, along with a few other single-purpose plugin ideas.
The Spark: A Revelation at WordCamp
Then I went to my first WordCamp US. In a fantastic talk titled “What Top WordPress Product Companies Do Differently,” a simple, powerful strategy cut through all the noise. For developers who love to build but find marketing difficult, the advice was clear:
Create a free plugin, get it on wordpress.org, and offer support. When users open tickets, work on them.
That was it for me – the simple token I could grasp and immediately try to put into practice. It was a strategy built on the thing I love to do most: solve problems and support users. It felt like a direct, actionable path that valued craft and community over complex marketing funnels. It was a revelation.
The Oregon Convention Center, where a simple idea provided a new direction.
The Pivot: From a Vague Tool to a Clear Habit
I came home to Florida with a renewed sense of purpose. I wasn’t just going to build a tool; I was going to follow a proven process. I decided to pour my focus into ‘auto-doc’, but the name felt vague.
The name change to WP Dev Habit was intentional. This had to be changed for trademark reasons.
- “WP Dev” made its purpose clear: this is a tool for WordPress developers.
- “Habit” was the real key. It connected the project to my personal mission of replacing bad habits with good ones. The goal wasn’t just to create documentation; it was to build a positive, consistent habit of documenting.
With a clear name and a clear strategy, the project finally had the momentum it needed.
The “Why Now”: A Repeatable Process
This is more than just one plugin. At work, we’re constantly trying to improve our documentation. I could easily add a simple documentation-prompter plugin to a couple of staging sites and use the content from the set of questions to provide better documentation on my work. For my personal projects, I need a streamlined process to keep my scattered ideas from getting lost.
WP Dev Habit(now Daily Dev Habit) is the first step in creating a predictable, repeatable process for myself. It’s a tool born from a real need, sharpened by a moment of inspiration, and dedicated to the simple, powerful act of building in public. This ‘Docs’ section is a history of that process.