As I sit firmly within the glow of WWDC’s announcements I’m struck by how different this year feels than years gone by. There is a different feeling in the air and a welcome change in the overall morale among the developers I meet.
Apple did so much this year to knock off our longtime wish-lists. Extensions, Photos, Metal, Scene Kit, CloudKit, Document Pickers, Handoff, Analytics, Beta Testing….it is Christmas morning. But it isn’t just the changes that I think have us all walking around with grins on our faces, it is what those changes now allow.
When I left WWDC last year I felt like I had a long todo list of things that I needed to do. Apple had made a lot of changes (most notably to the appearance) of iOS 7 that were a lot of work to adopt but that didn’t fundamentally change my apps. I couldn’t wow my customers with the resulting changelog, it felt like the same app but in a different dress.
This year is the opposite. I don’t have a todo list of things that I need to do, I have a list of things I want to do. This year Apple has taken the lid off and given us everything that we have been asking for. It is now our responsibility to step-up and take advantage of the new opportunities created.
This year I head into a busy summer overwhelmed in the best possible way with amazing opportunities, not with obligations that I need to adapt to.
Bring it on.