Ask anyone who wrote any type of a non-game application and they will tell you that users often invent ways of using your code that you have never dreamt of.

Case in point? Spreadsheets, which many people use not to do any sort of financial modelling, but to keep lists of things to do. I have a friend who plans conferences in OpenOffice.org Calc.

But you do not have to write huge pieces of code to experience that phenomenon. I recently published a free Android app that originally began life as a part of my test code. I wanted to know more about the SIM cards I was using to test my other apps.

When I published SIM Info I was convinced it would only be of interest to a small group of developers, but as it turns out, many users find it handy when they need to unlock their phones and tablets. Users tell me that operators ask them for information that is not displayed in the Android Settings menu and that when SIM Info becomes a very handy utility to have.

Based on that feedback, I added a way to share the information displayed by SIM Info via email, text message, or any other communication channel available on your Android device.

The moral of the story is you should just put your code out there and listen to your users. They will tell you what they think of your code and how it is useful to them. And that’s what counts.