"Dogfooding" - Using AnyType to Develop AnyType

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I’d like to recommend “Dogfooding”. GitLab uses this to build their product.
GitLab Handbook Link

The best way to understand how GitLab works is to use it for as much of your job as possible. Avoid dogfooding antipatterns and try to find ways to leverage GitLab (instead of an external tool) whenever possible. For example: try to use Issues instead of documents or spreadsheets and try to capture conversation in comments instead of Slack threads.

As a PM, but also as any GitLab team member, you should actively use every feature, or at minimum, all the features for which you are responsible. That includes features that are not directly in GitLab’s UI but require server configuration.

If you can’t understand the documentation, or if you struggle to install something, would anyone else bother to do it? This hands-on experience is not only beneficial for understanding what the pain points are, but it also helps you understand what can be improved and what features GitLab is missing.

With AnyType being as flexible at it is, I think it’s a prime candidate for this sort of thing. Now, this of course, does require some non-trivial features like collaboration, public sharing, etc.

Things I think AnyType could be used for regarding meta/internal management:

  • Feature requests
  • Bug reports
  • Roadmaps
  • Documentation

This very well may be already happening internally, but I think having public visibility would go a long way. It also helps with rapid feedback of the product. If the developers have to use the product, bugs and features can be prioritized in a more thoughtful and useable way.

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I agree so much with this! I believe many team members are already dogfooding Anytype as I see quite some notes and presentations shared from Anytype directly (using screen sharing, not yet with shared spaces).

I’d love to hear from the team what their experiences are so far. @Charlotte you might have some nice insights here? :slight_smile:

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Hi! Thanks for the input - I agree that we can be more visible about how we use Anytype at Anytype, and what kinds of multiplayer functions the app is already working well for.

Till now we’ve been running some experiments with space-sharing and collaboration, mostly in terms of how it’s working on the level of access control, version control, sync, etc. In this process we’ve identified some issues when it comes to restoring backups, which means that for critical and time-sensitive information, it’s not mature enough as a daily-use tool for the organization. That being said, we do try to use Anytype for internal documentation/knowledge base, or as a place to draft documents that may later be published.

Once our new infrastructure is integrated and we finish with the feature plan for the next ~3 months, we will most likely revisit this project with greater intention. Looking forward to sharing more as this develops :slight_smile:

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