Maybe because of the 80:20 rule? The steepness in progressing near the end is suddenly much higher.
Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
111–120 of 171 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#112When your project is finished, the dream is dead and the reality is born. The death of a dream is like the death of a friend. It's probably been with you for a long time -- longer even than the length of the project. A dream is the manifestation of what's possible. When it is over, the possible diminishes very quickly and you are left with what actually is. Will people respond well to your project -- in the dream sta…
Good comment.
Post-completion depression is a recognised syndrome in the arts. One psychological explanation is that constant pressure to complete maintains a core state of focus and emotional arousal.
When the pressure disappears so does the arousal, and sometimes a sense of purpose and direction disappears with it. You knew what you were doing and why you needed to get up in the morning, and then you don’t any more. It’s a bit like losing a job.
It’s also temporary. A good prosaic but effective antidote is a vacation and/or a change of scene. If that’s not practical just after shipping - it often isn’t - at least clear a couple of weeks later, book a break, and take at least a weekend off to do something fun in the short term.
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#113Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you want other people to use it, it does apply. You don't know what you don't know until you have user feedback. No matter how much is right about your vision, you need that. This is WHY the idea of having an MVP and iterating has won so thoroughly.
Don't get me wrong, if you are to measure success by the money you raise, then I completely agree with you. I meant thinking of an app as a mean of expression rather than a cow to squeeze money from. If you want to make something more in the arts department, getting people to tell you what they think early on might be a horrible and non constructive idea.
I don't care whether you are writing it for money, open source, or simply to make the world a better place. If the purpose of your work involves other people appreciating it, you won't know what they will and will not appreciate it until you put it in front of other people and get feedback about it.
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
1. What didn't work for you might work for someone else. 2. We have no way to make a comparison with what you did to what he's doing - see #1.
That's why I said 'maybe his project will be different.' Reading the post again I think he's saying he'll have money again because once launched he'll stop working on it and go back to freelance. In that case it makes sense. I thought he was assuming he'll bring in profits once launched - even though he hasn't gotten user feedback yet. IMO that type of thinking is premature, even if you have the best idea/execution i…
Yes, luck plays a big part in this game... unfortunately. I actually read it as in "he'll make sales which will generate more income" but what you're saying is valid though I think once you launch, you end up getting more work as feedback comes pouring in.
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#115To the extent that having interesting problems to solve is motivating, running out of them should be correspondingly demotivating.
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#116because you are getting out of your comfort zone (developing the project). Now you will enter a more marketing and sales side which we usually dread as developers. Maybe start doing it yourself and as it gets some clients then hire someone. Or find a cofounder that actually complements your skills (not another dev).
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#117In addition to what others stated, if "nearing completion" means "the programming is almost finished", then this can be demotivating because as an experienced programmer you know that this means that there is still about 400% to be done in terms of boring debugging, deployment, debugging, optimizing, and boring debugging, packaging and deployment... and debugging!
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#118Because the first 90% was enjoyable and the second 90% is no fun. The places a mind can wander when provided a blank canvas are infinitely more vast than an already painted one.
I usually find this. The interesting stuff is done: you've nurtured the idea, you've proven the concept, you've refined the design, you've made it work. Now what is left is dotting the is and crossing the ts (the boring nitty-gritty finishing details) and dealing with people (release, marketing, support, ...).
If you are a creative at heart this finishing stage can feel soul destroying: you've already got your next big idea, probably several of them, just waiting for you to complete this one so you've got time to properly get started...
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#119When your project is finished, the dream is dead and the reality is born. The death of a dream is like the death of a friend. It's probably been with you for a long time -- longer even than the length of the project. A dream is the manifestation of what's possible. When it is over, the possible diminishes very quickly and you are left with what actually is. Will people respond well to your project -- in the dream sta…
Very insightful and it matches very well my experience where it is easier for me to complete a task when I have also other tasks in progress.
Re: Ask HN: Why is nearing completion so demotivating?
#120I have this too and it is in my case attributable to one thing only: fear that it bombs.
That's why I try to release stuff as early as possible to feel which way to go in with the development to minimize that chance. Two years is a long time but I can see how for some software that is a reasonable amount of time to spend in development mode before the first release.