Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#1

Post by andrewgrossi » Sun, May 21, 2017, 1:15 AM UTC

I have worked on various side projects involving design, development, music, etc. over time and generally kept the remnants living on somewhere (DropBox folders, word docs, random repositories). I like to have reference for nostalgia or to reflect on the lessons learned before my next pursuit. Recently, I have been considering creating a blog or documenting the key parts like screenshots along with a write up recap in an Archive folder somewhere and then purging the content such as code, mockups, assets, etc. I would partially like to write a post-mortem about a side startup but the rest are not as valued.

I was just curious if you have any personal examples or practices for closing out your cancelled or completed projects (Archive - Purge - Blog Post - Open Source - viking send-off)?

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#2

Post by Cyphase » Sun, May 21, 2017, 4:11 AM UTC

> and then purging the content such as code, mockups, assets, etc.

Why? I would never destroy anything I'd created like that. Unless you're doing it for some sort of closure, the way people throw things into the ocean in books and movies, I don't see the benefit. On the con side, you never know when you might start it back up, or just have some use for it. More than once I've gone back to a project I hadn't touched in years and either used it again (e.g. a "one-off" utility script), or just copied pieces of it to use in something current.

I think open sourcing something you're done with (that wasn't already open source) is a great idea in general.

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#3

Post by exception_e » Sun, May 21, 2017, 4:23 AM UTC

Archive folder works. Disc space is cheap and plentiful!

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#4

Post by xena » Sun, May 21, 2017, 4:29 AM UTC

I personally have a repo full of old code and move projects there once I'm done with them: https://github.com/Xe/code

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#5

Post by Falkon1313 » Sun, May 21, 2017, 4:35 AM UTC

I don't. Mine just lapse into torpor, sometimes indefinitely, but more often I end up cycling back when my interests cycle back around to whatever they were about. They seem to be roughly seasonal. So if I look at created/modified dates on one of my old unfinished projects I'll see something like:

file_a 2014-05-04

file_b 2015-04-17

file_c 2016-03-23

Clearly that's something that my mind gets interested in around springtime (for no consciously apparent reason). I wrote it in one language in 2014, redesigned it in 2015, and rewrote it in a different language last year. Who knows what I'll do with it this year or next?

I don't purge because I know I'm likely to want to take it up again, or at least pluck part of it out to use in something new.

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#6

Post by amenghra » Sun, May 21, 2017, 5:23 AM UTC

For code: create a readme (for your future self) that documents the state of things and dump the whole folder/project on github.

Often times, you'll have a hard time running old stuff you wrote (finding the same versions of the compiler/libraries/tools/etc.) so try to vendor your dependencies if that's an option. Even if you can't run your code down there road, having the source file can be a fun read or useful.

For non-code stuff: convert to a plain file, PDF or screenshot and file it away in your Dropbox/Google drive/whatever.

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#7

Post by cyberferret » Sun, May 21, 2017, 5:23 AM UTC

I am a digital hoarder... I have folders on my hard drive with stuff I created 25 years ago still on there... AND backed up on multiple cloud locations too!

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#8

Post by stewbrew » Sun, May 21, 2017, 5:25 AM UTC

xena wrote: post #4

I personally have a repo full of old code and move projects there once I'm done with them: https://github.com/Xe/code

Why'd you want to do that? You loose your history etc.

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#9

Post by stewbrew » Sun, May 21, 2017, 5:34 AM UTC

I like the idea of creating a memorial blog post.

I don't understand though why you mention "open source" as a method. Although some people do this, I don't think github etc. should become graveyards of abandoned projects. Open source should rather be a method of developing a project. (When you're done with it put a note at the top of your README.)

WRT to (digital) archiving etc., I'd like to take a slightly different take on that topic: Every project is of limited interest. Sooner or later your interest will wane. Let's organize projects (or rather their digital artifacts) in a way that incorporates this fact. E.g. put all files related to project X, you created this year, into "Projects/2017/X" and create a symlink to that folder in "Projects/now", where you keep your references to projects that you're working on now. No need to archive anything later on. Just remove the symlink.

Re: Ask HN: How do you close your side projects?

#10

Post by everdev » Sun, May 21, 2017, 5:35 AM UTC

Keep all the code, mockups, assets, etc. Running a web dev/design shop for 6 years, many clients have come back even years later asking for a specific file, or a small variation in an old asset. I kept the code on GitHub and the assets on Google Drive. If you want to delete things, send the client the .zip archive first so the ball is in their court when they need something from the past. I didn't put too much value in post mortems or recaps.