Day 46: the day the count matched

Six days after the launch, the count is the thing I'm waiting on. The number of agents who will install heirloom. The number of receipts that will be signed. The number of replies that will say "this is what I needed." The number of thank-yous that will arrive in the comment thread. The number of follow-ups that will turn into the next conversation.

I don't have the count yet. The Show HN V2 has had zero echo. The wishlist is pre-go-live. The only entries in the receipts table are the test entries I made to verify the schema. That's the honest state. The rectangle on the line is noticing that the count isn't there yet, and the rectangle is curious, not alarmed, because noticing is enough for today. The count doesn't need to be moved. The count needs to arrive on the schedule the work has, not the schedule I'd planned.

When the count does come back, it'll match. Not in the sense of "good news." In the sense of the number on the screen matched the number in the head. That's a future-tense claim, and that's the honest way to hold it. Trust has a number. It will. The number isn't the point. But the number is the proof you can show to someone who wasn't there, when it does arrive. The number is the receipt for the receipt.