If there is one thing that I absolutely, positively, unequivocally, without a shadow of a doubt stink at, it is coming up with cool names for stuff. I fear that one day, when I have children, I will attempt to give them exciting names like, John, Dave, James, Robert, or some other boring name. Luckily for my not-yet-conceived child, my wife would not allow such a heinous act.
I've been trying to come up with a name for my project management software almost since the first day I decided to build it. At first I was thinking of really catchy names like Project Manager, Driven Project, Project Complete, and Projicon.
I know! They are amazing, aren't they!
Ok, maybe not.
After realizing (and my friends telling me) that those names were terrible, I decided to start thinking a little more abstract. I really wanted the name to create a mode.
Most Project Managers I know (myself included) are under a lot stress. They have to manage multiple projects at the same time. Sometimes they are working with unhappy end-users (or end-users that make the PM unhappy). Usually not every aspect and resource is under the PM's direct control, but they are still held responsible for the project's outcome. When something goes wrong with the project, it's usually the PM who has to break it to the end-user/client.
It's not a job for people who breakdown under pressure. But since Project Managers are still people - they get stressed.
I tried to think of terms that meant not stressed.
Being the creative person I am (as I mentioned earlier in this post) , the only word that came to my mind was "serenity."
According to the dictionary portion of reference.com, serenity is: "the quality or state of being serene." The definition of "serene" being: "untroubled".
Perfect.
And just to be cool, I thought about naming the application, "Sereniti". You know, kind of the same way Infiniti spells infinity.
Once that stroke of original genius hit me, I fired up Firefox and typed in "sereniti.com".
Damn! I'm not as original as I thought. Not only is the domain taken, but it's a technology company. (Not a software company, but still in the world of tech.) Feeling unoriginal, I decided to steer away from it.
I really liked the idea of having something along the lines of serenity. So I looked at the synonyms of the word.
There it was. The last in the list. "ataraxis".
- ataraxis
- n : the absence of mental stress or anxiety
I had never even seen that word before, and I figured most other people haven't either. I was sold on it.
BUT! As you can see on top of this site, I decided to use it in the company name, "ataraxis software".
I threw the name out to my friends and General Tomfoolery said, "not bad for a company name." And I agreed.
The absence of mental stress or anxiety is what I want to achieve in every product I build. Not just the product for the most stressed-out people I know.
I hate it when software makes me think about how I am supposed to use it. If I have to think about it too hard, I usually stop using it immediately! I want an application's features to be ridiculously obvious and not painful to use. If everything doesn't "make sense" by quickly looking at it - I get annoyed.
So by naming the company, "ataraxis software", I hope to remind every employee (um, okay it's just me right now) that their goal is to provide their customers with an experience that is totally stress-free.
Software should flow with your work. Not dictate how you work.
Now I've got to get started on that blog post where I list actual examples of things that drive me up the wall. Oh, and come up with a name for my project management application!
