I have a confession: I spent months building something that already existed. And honestly? I’m glad I did.
The Problem That Wouldn’t Go Away
I’m a hyperfocuser. When I’m deep in work, the world disappears. Great for productivity. Terrible for making meetings on time.
The breaking point came during a final-round interview with a company I really wanted to join. I was prepared – notes ready, talking points rehearsed, laptop charged. Fifteen minutes before the call, I thought I’d “just quickly read this one article.”
You can guess what happened next.
I showed up five minutes late to meet the founder. He was gracious. I was mortified. Here I was, demonstrating the exact opposite of the reliability I’d been planning to talk about.
This wasn’t a one-off. My Slack history was littered with “Where are you?” messages. Calendar notifications had become background noise – my brain had learned to dismiss them while staying locked in flow state.
Building the Solution
As a product manager, I did what we do: I treated it as a problem to solve.
The insight was simple: notifications don’t work for hyperfocusers because they’re too easy to ignore. But alarms – the kind that blare until you physically dismiss them – those cut through anything.
So I built Oi-U! (as in “Oi! You!”) – an iOS Shortcut that:
- Scans your calendar each morning
- Creates actual phone alarms for every meeting
- Activates with a triple-tap on the back of your phone
I gave it a website, wrote some blog posts, even started thinking about marketing. This was going to be my thing.
The Discovery
Then I found Today Planned.
Someone had already built exactly what I was making – but better. Native app. Polished UI. Already in the App Store with happy users.
My first reaction? Deflation. Classic “build before you research” mistake.
My second reaction? Relief.
Why I’m Glad I Built It Anyway
Here’s what building Oi-U! actually gave me:
1. I solved my own problem. The shortcut still works. I still use it. The goal was never to build a business – it was to stop missing meetings. Mission accomplished.
2. I learned by doing. I figured out iOS Shortcuts, stood up a WordPress site, wrote content, thought about positioning. All skills that transfer.
3. I discovered my real interests. The most fun part wasn’t building the tool – it was thinking about the productivity problem itself. Writing about focus, distractions, and how our tools shape our work. That’s what I actually care about.
4. It’s a good story. In interviews, “I built something and someone else beat me to it” lands better than “I had this idea once.” Shipping matters, even when the ship sinks.
The Lesson for PMs
We tell our teams to validate ideas before building. To do customer research. To check the competitive landscape. All good advice.
But sometimes you need to scratch your own itch first. Sometimes the learning is the value, not the outcome.
Oi-U! is now sunset. The website’s still up as an archive. The blog posts are migrating here (you might have already read them). And I’m using Today Planned like a normal person.
No regrets.
The archived Oi-U! posts on this site: Turn Off Your Email Notifications, The Origin Story, Mastering Focus, and My Year with Reflect.