Cycle 2
Three products, one loop each. Every key result grades a step of the loop: understand, first win, return. Arrivals are watched, not graded, until the loop holds them.
Objectives and key results
Pet Med Reminder
A new caregiver stops wondering whether they gave the pill, from the first dose on
- External installs during the cycle that log a first dose within 48 hours of install. Target: At least 6 installs, and at least half of the cycle's external installs
- People who cross the habitual bar (five doses on three distinct days in ninety) during the cycle. Target: 3 crossings, 13 to 16
- Frustrated repeat-taps on the Care Item Editor from cycle installs, after the editor fix ships. Target: Zero across the cycle's external installs after the fix is live
Loop: loop. Why they buy: to stop wondering whether they gave the dog her pill. The loop works for thirteen habitual people. It breaks at the Care Item Editor, in front of the first win. The first win is the first time the app answers the question: a dose logged means the next glance at the Today screen or the widget is an answer, not a guess Work that serves these, in order: submit 1.10.0 today; re-verdict and fix the Care Item Editor for P3 and P1; end onboarding on the Today screen with the next dose visible and the notification scheduled, so the buyer's question has an answer before they put the phone down, for P1; check whether the app shows a user their run of dosing days, and if not, put it on the Today screen, for P2; wire the rating prompt to the habitual-bar crossing, once per user, in the 1.10.x line after the editor fix, for P2 Watched, not graded: first downloads (instrument owed, ); the 1.9.0 listing conversion read; the App Store subtitle, which should carry the promise (never wonder whether you gave the pill) rather than the category, changed on or after Oct 10, when the window closes, never before
Show Notes
A stranger feels caught up on a show they follow, for the first time
- Verified strangers who read a summary of a show they follow, out of the first 30 who see the samples screen in the cycle. Target: 6 of the first 30
- External people who read a summary on three distinct days in the cycle. Target: 3 people
Loop: loop. Why they buy: to feel caught up without thirty-five hours a week. No external person has completed the loop. It breaks at sign-in, before any first win. This is an activation cycle, and the targets are absolute counts because the baseline is zero. The why is the least certain of the three, so this objective also carries a pre-registered learning question, below Work that serves these, in order: move the first win in front of the email: a stranger adds one show and reads one summary of it with no account, and the email is asked for afterward, to keep the feed (decided by Dave at adoption, 2026-09-26; this is the product the JTBD describes). The two sign-in failures are fixed on the way, since the email step still exists after the first win. Then make the first authenticated screen show this week's episodes of the shows they follow, summarized, by show search or OPML on first run, never an empty inbox ( H3), because caught up is a feeling about a backlog and one summary of one show does not produce it; name and ship the key event; write Job B into the cycle doc as the job Watched, not graded: arrivals from App Store search (12 external new people in 28 days); the email bar, superseded by S1; the App Store subtitle and screenshots, held until Oct 8 by Pre-registered learning question, ruled on at the close: does the loss of skipped episodes bother anyone? Evidence that it does: S1 met and S2 met, or any external reader answering the founder welcome in words that say so. Evidence that it does not: S1 met and S2 at zero, meaning strangers read once and do not come back for the feeling. Either answer is a result; the learning is written separately from the grade
Paroletta
An arrival feels their Italian getting better, and comes back for the next three minutes
- External arrivals during the cycle that complete a first word the same day. Target: At least 15 arrivals, and at least 1 in 3 of the cycle's external arrivals
- External people who play on three distinct days in the cycle. Target: 3 people
Loop: loop. Why they buy: to feel their Italian getting better, three minutes a day. That makes the number on the result screen the product's promise, not decoration: I2 is the why made visible. Arrivals are the best of the three products. Completions were zero for four days. It breaks between the first open and the first completed word, at a step nothing has measured since Aug 12. Return evidence, five weeks to Sept 26: five external people completed the daily word on two or more days, two on three or more; nobody completed Categorie twice Work that serves these, two tasks only, because Paroletta is third in priority: read the first-open-to-first-completion funnel, then fix the one step it names ( closed the level picker on Aug 12; the loss since is unlocated). That is the cycle. The doors are decided (Sept 26: the loop is the daily word, Categorie gets no work, Vocabolario is the number). Carried, filed, not this cycle: the score and streak as the result screen's largest element with the name in the frame, and a number for every Vocabolario finisher. Either comes forward only if the funnel read names the result screen as the broken step Watched, not graded: store downloads (instrument owed, ); Categorie and Vocabolario completion rates; the Play tester roster; the App Store subtitle, which should carry the promise (feel your Italian improve in three minutes a day) rather than the category; Paroletta has no ASO window running, so this can change with the next submission. Android is a no-go this cycle
Why this cycle
Cycle 1 proved a stranger can find each product. Cycle 2 asks what happens next: whether the stranger understands it in ten seconds, gets a first win, and comes back. Each product has one loop written on one page, under one sentence in the buyer’s own words about why they want it. Each key result grades a step of that loop, and the step is judged against that sentence: a first win is the first moment the buyer’s sentence comes true. Arrivals keep being counted, but no product is graded on more arrivals until its loop holds the ones it has.
Priority order: Pet Med Reminder, then Show Notes, then Paroletta. When a morning has one hour, it goes to Pet Med Reminder. Personal projects (WCP Cloud, Filotto, Salotto, Lettura, Ascolto, Vine Trails, Auction Hub, the AI-native lane) carry no objective and are worked by whim. WCP Cloud’s registry experiment ends Oct 4 and is read as a personal-project result, not graded.
No-Gos
- Revenue. Growth now, monetization later still stands. No paywall, no pricing.
- New platforms. No Android work on Paroletta until the iOS loop holds. No Android for Pet Med Reminder.
- New features. Nothing that is not a step of a loop page. A feature that serves no step of the loop is the twenty-fifth feature.
- Brand. Names stay as they are. Brand is a question for the close.
- Rating prompts. Pet Med Reminder only, on the habitual-bar crossing. Paroletta and Show Notes are deferred with dated reasons on their loop pages: Paroletta until the funnel has a baseline, Show Notes until a stranger has completed the loop. Review count is never a key result.
Get updates
Occasional notes on what's happening at Enginery. No spam, no marketing.