Jira Doesn't Work. Part 7: Seven

Yes, after part four comes part seven. I did write parts five and six and posted them to the blog, covering a security audit of my own product, frontend without React, and architecture decisions. Then I re-read them and realized: I’m not publishing those here. That’s not what you come here for.

So let’s get to it. Why seven.

Seven as the answer

After the previous posts, seven people signed up for Planq. Colleagues and friends, plus people from LinkedIn who read the posts, visited the site, entered their email, got a code, and gave it a try. For a solo R&D project, this isn’t a growth metric but rather an answer to the question: does anyone besides me need this? They do. At least seven of them.

In Japanese culture, seven is a lucky number, represented by 七福神, the Seven Lucky Gods. I’m not superstitious, but closing the series on this number feels right.

Android without Google Play

And there’s something to close it with, because today Planq became an Android app.

Not on Google Play, not on the App Store. There’s an APK on the website: tap, download, install. Why no app stores? Honestly: Apple wants $100 a year, Google wants $25. For a product with seven users, that’s not an investment but a ceremony. If the audience grows, I’ll get there. For now, just an APK and a bit of know-how.

New in the mobile version: passwordless sign-in via email and biometric lock.

Zero manual steps

A quick note on DevOps. Right now, I push to main and three minutes later a signed APK is on the server. GitHub Actions builds, signs, and uploads it. Backend and frontend work the same way: three repositories, three pipelines, zero manual steps. When you’re a team of one, automation isn’t a luxury but the only way to build a product instead of doing deployment.

Takeaway

Over the course of this series, the project followed a clear path: from a local script to a web service, then to a mobile app. Everything built and deployed through GitHub Actions straight to the cloud.

And seven users who said: this makes sense.

Planq stays open: planq.lab.imarch.dev. The web version works right away; for Android there’s a “Download APK” button. Take it for a spin, let me know what you think. Maybe you’ll be number eight.

The series is over. The project continues. Thanks for reading and trying it out.