I use issue tracking, having a list of 3-5 next features I would like to implement. With a detailed description of the feature and potential upcoming challenges, this works well to get back in the groove when having been away from the project for some time.
Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
41–50 of 63 posts
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#42I agree with the predominant two suggestions here: to use Trello, and to do a little more planning up front. But it also looks like you are having some issues with getting back into the zone quickly, without too much overhead. A trick that writers use is to apparently write an incomplete line at the end of the draft. You can try something similar - depending on your project, this could be something as simple a quick…
Trello and writing a line are great; I have one extra comment about the line. Instead of just "not finishing" something, I will do a minor brain dump of what I'm trying to accomplish into a comment or a Trello item in the details field. Usually when I'm stopping it's because there's a thing that isn't easy to finish, and I've done a lot of thinking about how to finish, but don't have the time to do it. So I write dow…
I can second this. It's like rubber duck debugging but "past you" is explaining it to "future you" who is in a different mindset.
Most of my biggest breakthroughs have happened because of something like this.
And if you aren't afraid to check these brain dumps into your source control in some kind of notes.md, it can also give you a bit more context on what problems you were facing at that time in the repo's life, and perhaps why you thought the solution at the time was a good one.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#43I took the overall concepts from StrikeThru http://striketh.ru/ but instead of using a paper notebook, I use OneNote. It works really well across desktop and mobile. Plus, since it is in electronic form, searching is very easy.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#44I use Phabricator and Google Sheets.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#45Personally I use TDD (or more precisely BDD) for this purpose. If I leave the project overnight, or for a week or a month, I can come back to it, run the tests, and the failing and/or pending tests tell me what I was doing when I last worked on it. So I always leave an in-process development project with failing tests. If they're all green, I don't know what to do next!
This method also works for me. Usually the failing test left behind is something in the same space of where work needs to be done, but I like to keep the failing code trivial so that I can ramp up. 'Works great. A TODO file can also be used to accomplish this if TDD isn't your thing.
I think a TODO is preferable even if you practice TDD.
Failing tests used as a "start here" are to-dos in this instance and are indistinguishable from legitimate currently-implemented feature tests if you've been away long enough.
I don't think it's good to assume it's okay to delete failing tests when returning to a project with new goals or when a bug needs fixing. For me, it's important to return to a project, run tests and have them all come back green. Then if I break something, I know it broke and isn't just an artifact from my pseudo to-dos.
Along those lines... I always try to run tests, check code coverage (including via mutation testing), and commit changes before calling it a day.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#46I use a notebook. One that I write in using a pen. When stopping for the evening/day/whatever I take 5 - 10 minutes to write in my notebook what part of the project is working, what has been changed, open questions, and a list of three things to do next. You can think of it like having a standup meeting with myself :-). When I go back to the project, I thumb back through the pages in my notebook until I find the last…
Same but onenote with a tablet and pen, because then I can access it from wherever...
With my Surface Book this became more practical. I really like the drawing experience with it. Prior to that, online solutions suffered from "hard to doodle in"
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Same but onenote with a tablet and pen, because then I can access it from wherever...
With my Surface Book this became more practical. I really like the drawing experience with it. Prior to that, online solutions suffered from "hard to doodle in"
Yeah, I use a similar device and it really is an almost perfect replacement for pen and paper notes
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#48I tried spreadsheets, bug trackers, self made tools...
But for a few years now I've been using Trello with the (open sourced) Agile SCRUM Chrome Extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/agile-scrum-for-tr...
It is a very quick methodology to manage all my projects as well as estimate timings and effort for everything. I set how many hours I want to work a week, estimate each task duration and priority and the extension can tell me how long it will take to finish each milestone and release dates.
Organizing boards on Trello:
I have one board with an overall view of all the projects in a Kanban style (To Do, In progress, Completed) and then one board for each project with their lists (To Do, In progress, Testing, Completed) and follow a loose non-strict Agile SCRUM methodology.
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#49I use Todolist from AbstractSpoon
Re: Ask HN: How do you manage your personal software projects?
#50I use a notebook. One that I write in using a pen. When stopping for the evening/day/whatever I take 5 - 10 minutes to write in my notebook what part of the project is working, what has been changed, open questions, and a list of three things to do next. You can think of it like having a standup meeting with myself :-). When I go back to the project, I thumb back through the pages in my notebook until I find the last…
The doubly-linked list is a really good idea! I'll have to start using it.
For no real purpose other than personal interest, I like to put a "NET" (no earlier than) date next to my page numbers in my notebook. Every time I start a new page, I write the page number and the current date (ex '#51 NET 21 Sep 2016') on the page.