FRIENDS & FAMILY / VIP INTEGRATIONS

Great Tools – Better Together

Without integrations, Maria & James would be pretty much useless. They’re what brings my assistants to life and makes them genuinely useful.

But I’m not interested in collecting integrations just to impress people with big numbers. I’d rather have a handful that work beautifully than dozens that only work halfway.

And I believe there’s much more we can achieve by working together than simply connecting one piece of software to another.

There’s More Than Black and White

People often see the world in black and white. A company is either driven by profit or committed to making a difference. But I believe there are countless shades of grey in between.

Maria & James is a work of art — feel free to laugh out loud at this point — but it’s also a business. And I see no contradiction in that.

Integrating applications used by millions of people naturally offers greater business potential than integrating a beautiful little niche application. I’m well aware of that, and the big players will certainly have their place in Maria & James.

But business potential isn’t the only thing that matters to me. I’m just as fascinated by innovative applications created by a handful of people who genuinely believe in what they’re building.

Whether an application comes from a global technology company or two developers working in a garage isn’t what ultimately makes it special to me. What matters is what we can create together.

Less Can Be More

There’s always a temptation in software development to add more and more features, to serve more and more niches, until one day you’ve created a monster where 99% of users only need 5% of what’s there.

As a user, you might end up feeling like a little kid in an XXL toy store — overwhelmed by the endless choices, not even knowing where to begin.

And suddenly, having everything doesn’t feel quite so wonderful anymore.

That’s why I want to approach integrations like a sommelier choosing wines. Each one handpicked, chosen with care, and selected for what it brings to the table.

A VIP Integration isn’t a commodity. It’s something special.

Let’s Talk Business

Let’s put on the hat of the perfect entrepreneur for a moment — one with a cash register instead of a heart.

Which integrations would make life so much easier for IT professionals that they’d happily reach for their credit cards and hire themselves a personal assistant?

Let’s start with the obvious candidates:

  • Tasks & Issues
  • Email & Calendar
  • Pinboards & Workspaces
  • Monitoring & Alerts
  • Code Reviews
  • CI/CD & Deployments

I’ll start by carefully selecting integrations from these categories, gradually adding more over the years.

I may be a little old-fashioned in that regard — I actually have a ten-year plan.

More Than Just Integrations

I see integrations as a triple-win situation. They’re the foundation of Maria & James as a business, they add value to the applications I integrate, and they bring more productivity, less stress, and good vibrations to the everyday lives of IT professionals.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to build on the work of others. And if their products help make Maria & James successful, I’d be happy to give something back.

Admittedly, with around 100 LinkedIn followers, no customers yet, and even beta testers being surprisingly hard to find these days, I haven’t the slightest idea what that might look like right now.

But I hope that will change.

I want to connect more than applications — I want to connect with the people behind them, building partnerships and perhaps even friendships.

That’s what Friends & Family means to me.