John Polacek

Chicago Web Developer

Engineering manager and frontend lead at Howl

My product recommendations at shop.howl.me

Shipping open source on Github

Follow me at @johnpolacek

When Inpiration Strikes

Originally published on 4/29/2013
Manly Man Passwords Screenshot

The dev ops guy on our team comes up with some creative and hilarious passwords for our web servers. Every time he sends me a new ssh credential, it inevitably cracks me up. He follows the multiword approach with some special characters sprinkled in.

archer-posterSome other guys I work with recently launched a new high-end line of quality room spray. Called [Archer Air Superiority][3] it comes in scents like [distillery, hunting lodge and european sports car][4]. We have [Archer posters][5] all around the office.

When inspiration hits, it is usually when the combination of two or more things collide together in your brain and give birth to something else. This is what happed to me when I was walking around the 18th floor and, boom!, I had an idea. A few days later, I launched Passwords for the Manly Man.

I’ve written before about how I come up with ideas. The key to shipping your ideas out into the world is to strike while the iron is hot. Don’t overthink it, just do it. I’ve posted before about my criteria for the types of ideas I like to pursue. It is good to have that, but ultimately what you want is to come down with a bit of the madness over an idea and just execute.

manlymanpasswords-lg

I enjoy doing funny little bite-sized projects like this. It is great to see people getting some chuckles out of it on Twitter and Reddit.