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Episode 34 – A Complete Plugin Rewrite Case Study with Ninja Forms

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Expressly laid out in absolute detail, this Episode is presented in QA format, as Jean inquires how James and his team took their existing product of Ninja Forms and released a complete rewrite successfully.

As such, James gets quite candid about launching WP Ninjas’ tremendously challenging work on Ninja Forms, with the release of their very own Ninja Forms 3.0.

Covered are things like: the successes, stepping stones, marketing, feedback, the competition, and fear itself.

Topics include:
  • The epiphany that innovation is key.
  • How rebranding & reimagining form building has led to WP Ninjas’ sizeable achievement.
  • Jean has James detail the time and monetary investment that went into 3.0 before release.
    • The hefty and worthwhile expense of hiring a professional UI company.
      • How to get in touch with people who provide such a service.
      • How a mutual love of the classic comedian/actor/singer Danny Kaye sealed the deal on James’ chosen UI company.
      • The development & opportunity cost.
        • Keeping existing users happy during 3.0’s lengthy development.
        • Predicting optimum sales “seasons” in the plugin community.
        • Preparing for low income months.
        • Fighting to battle toward continued growth in user base.
        • How James made his peace with the anxiety of working toward something so important.
        • James’ hindsight clarifies the value of preparing a budget.
        • Contrasting product revamps as an entrepreneur vs. the process of doing so under an investor facing potentially exponential loss.
        • Understanding and quantifying support costs.
        • How transparency can save face.
        • The lengths James and team went to, to include others in the celebration of launching Ninja Forms 3.0.
          • Building and harnessing anticipation.
          • Timing is everything.
          • The results of all the hard work
            • The issue of having 50+ add-ons that had to work on the new schema.
            • The positives of users being able to roll back to a previous build, should problems arise.
            • Managing the inevitable increase in support load & prioritizing paid users.
            • Defining and admitting failures.
            • The fruits of their labor.
            • James’ advice for those going through a similar process.
              • Seize an adventurous outlook and take risks.
              • Never be afraid to ask “What if?”
                • Featured on the Show:
                • Ninja Forms
                • WP Ninjas
                • Dribbble
                • Danny Kaye

                  • Additionally, the technical side of the Ninja Forms rewrite can found here in Episode 14.

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                  Mastermind.fmBy Jean Galea & Joe Galea
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