“but does it solve anyone’s problem?”

my husband asked me this yesterday while clicking through the Christmas movie advent calendar I’m building 🎄

It started as a template. Then I got carried away, and now I want to launch it, promote it, maybe submit it to Awwwards. Who’s going to stop me? I’m having fun with it 🫠

For a moment, I didn’t know what to say. Then I realised: yes, it does. Mine.

I wanted to make something of my own. Something I could design, build, get attached to, and actually put out into the world.

I’ve heard “a product should solve someone’s problem” so many times that I almost forgot my own reasons count too.

When was the last time you made something just because you wanted to? Before wondering whether anyone would like it, use it, or think it was worth making?

Keeping up with how fast technology moves can feel overwhelming. But these tools have also made it possible for me to finally bring an idea like this to life — and that means a lot to me, both as a designer and as a person.

Maybe it’s a small thing. I’m still really happy I’m making it 🤎

i need this in december

We used to dread internal tools.

A client would get their product live, and then ask, “Cool, but how do I see all the users? Or refund an order? Or fix this one record?” And suddenly we were building an admin panel nobody budgeted for.

Now we just use Retool.

Hook it up to Supabase or whatever API the project runs on, and in a day or two the client has a real back office. Tables, filters, buttons that actually do things. When something needs custom logic, we write a bit of JavaScript and move on.

We’ve also started using it for the boring-but-important parts of automation work. A simple screen where someone can see what an AI workflow did, approve it, or retry it when it breaks. Clients love this more than the fancy AI part, honestly.

It’s not magic, and it won’t replace a proper product. But for the stuff only your team will ever see, it’s hard to justify spending weeks on it.

If your ops still run on spreadsheets and “can you check that for me?” messages, that’s usually the sign.