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Ministry of Bits Newsletter

Bits & Grit

Outpost Needs an Icon

Outpost Needs an Icon

Quick Quote for Sherpa, along with several quality of life upgrades, is nearly done. I'm aiming to get a beta out the door later this week. If you're interested in participating, send me a message and I'll make sure you're included.

I’m turning my attention back to Outpost, starting with the icon...

10th May 2026 - Patrick Salo
The Work They Both Needed

The Work They Both Needed

Four weeks away from Outpost is not the story I wanted to tell. But it is where things stand. This week I was thinking about how often small businesses underestimate the hidden work behind new capabilities. A shop adds embroidery. An office hires a new employee. Sherpa adds Quick Quote. In each case...

3rd May 2026 - Patrick Salo
The Smaller Doorway

The Smaller Doorway

Sometimes the product you believe in most is not the easiest product for people to understand first. I’m building Outpost partly because Sherpa has been harder to get noticed than I expected. Shop management software for decorator apparel businesses is not exactly the kind of thing people stop scrol...

26th Apr 2026 - Patrick Salo
When Staying on Track Doesn’t Look Like the Plan

When Staying on Track Doesn’t Look Like the Plan

I expected this week to move Outpost further forward. Instead, it became a reminder that for small independent businesses, staying on track does not always look like doing the thing you planned. Sometimes current customers and existing products are more important than work on future products.

As a...

19th Apr 2026 - Patrick Salo
When the Right Pivot Doesn’t Feel Like Progress

When the Right Pivot Doesn’t Feel Like Progress

This week felt like I got less done than planned, but the pivot was strategically correct and may even pay off twice.

With the major part of the Outpost user interface done, the next step should be fairly smooth sailing. I expected to get the data structure in place, lock down the workflow, and th...

12th Apr 2026 - Patrick Salo
When Reality Pushes Back

When Reality Pushes Back

I started this week thinking I was making progress. In reality, I was still testing assumptions. This week was a reminder that the product in your head is almost never the product reality wants.

Outpost is going to be much more database heavy than other Ministry of Bits products, so early on in th...

5th Apr 2026 - Patrick Salo
Outpost, in Public

Outpost, in Public

For years, I’ve built products in secret. Outpost will be the first one I build in public.

That is a pretty big shift for me. My default move has always been to keep my head down, build quietly, polish the edges, squash most of the bugs, and only then invite people in. It’s a comfortable way to wo...

30th Mar 2026 - Patrick Salo
Sherpa Leads a Decorator Apparel Revolution

Sherpa Leads a Decorator Apparel Revolution

Ministry of Bits is thrilled to announce the launch of Sherpa and its suite of companion products, ushering in a new era of shop management for screen printing businesses. Sherpa is the next-generation all-in-one solution tailored specifically for decorators, designed to streamline operations from c...

23rd Jan 2025 - Patrick Salo
Optimizing Workflows for Seasonal Demand

Optimizing Workflows for Seasonal Demand

Within the screen printing business, we're all too familiar with the ebbs and flows of the workload throughout the year. Often it feels as if one's business is constantly pulled in one direction or another...too much business that's challenging to complete in a timely manner or too little business w...

20th Oct 2024 - Patrick Salo
Leverage Your Team for Workflow Improvements

Leverage Your Team for Workflow Improvements

Since starting on the journey of workflow improvements, we've covered many areas that you can focus on to make things better. This includes the processes themselves as well as the potential for hardware and software to assist. But one avenue we haven't covered is the people aspect of things. Leverag...

13th Oct 2024 - Patrick Salo