Why I Build My Own Tools

Every app on my phone started as a frustration. Mint shut down, so I built zBudget. No shoot planner existed for photographers, so I built Photo Pal. My home server needed monitoring, so I built Server Status.

There's a particular satisfaction in solving your own problems with code. You know the edge cases intimately because you live them. You don't need user research — you are the user. And when the tool finally works exactly the way you imagined, it feels like a small act of defiance against the idea that you have to settle for what already exists.

The downside, of course, is scope creep. What starts as "I just need a simple budget tracker" becomes a full-featured finance app with bank sync, voice input, and a premium tier. But that's also where the craft lives — in the tension between "good enough for me" and "good enough to ship."

I think every designer should build something for themselves at least once. Not a portfolio piece, not a client project — something you actually use every day. It changes how you think about product design when you're accountable to yourself.