101–110 of 372 posts
Once they are “complete”, I’m loosing interest and get carried away on other things, often times I don’t even publish them anywhere.
If someone wants to team up on this, let’s chat.
You’ve already done step one: realise the pattern. Step two is don’t do the new project. See it for what it is, not a great new idea, but another step down the road you’ve been walking down for years. Just because an idea pops into your brain, doesn’t mean you owe it anything. Something that may help is picking a smaller project, so small you could do it in a day or two. Build up some endurance over time. Good luck
It's funny because I did exactly that (sticking to one project instead of jumping from idea to idea) because I had the same problem as the OP, but these days I'm getting the feeling this is also counterproductive. I spent a lot of time on a single project, learned a lot of things along the way, but progress was very very slow mainly because it started to feel like 'work'. For me, these kinds of side-projects are all…
This seems promising, thank you!
Just a question: don't you risk to get stuck in a perpetual refactoring/rewrite cycle?
[edit: fix formatting]
I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…
That's definitely the case with many of my unfinished projects. My "operating system" is a good example. I have an OS written completely from scratch for RPi3 that can run concurrent processes (and pretty much nothing else). I started to look into using the MMU but quickly realised that it's very hard and I'm not really that interested in it right now. All I really wanted to know was how to write an operating system. Now I know, but I'll almost certainly never actually write a proper one.
I find side projects useless. At work I solve real problems for real people, often big problems. Some toy project doesn't feel the least bit meaningful, and any idea I have for something that isn't just a toy is something 100 other people have had as well. So I help with their implementation instead. Instead of building useless tech demos or starting primitive games I'll never finish, I look up the projects I do actu…
Eight years ago I was really bored at work (they just asked for a couple of SQL queries a day) so I made a poor man's automated trading system for government bonds. The basic idea was to camp for new bonds and look for new opportunities as soon as they presented themselves. I had also done some rudimentary backtesting to prove some simple strategies for buying and selling. I made no money off of this, it was just for…
I think it would really help me to have a partner in any project I do. Someone to hold me accountable and to be excited about breakthroughs. It’s just so hard for me to motivate myself. I used to think this was a failing of self discipline. But working with people makes things fun. Look at the show “the office”. They thought of the most boring, unfulfilling type of work but it actually looks fun to work there. It’s a…
All of us in the same boat act as if there is something wrong with us such that we can't finish things.
If you layed out every one of the data points on developers side projects, what would the aggregate say?
Would it say that 80% finish their projects through to completion and there are this 20% who just can't ever seem to?
Or, would it say the opposite? That people who actually have completed projects are somewhat rare?
I'd be interested to see. My gut tells me finishing things isn't normal. The economics of it seem to be tilted in the favor of starting and strongly against finishing.
I find it much easier if I pick projects that I actually could benefit from. For example I started working on a note taking app a little while ago, because I couldn't find one that I liked. I know I will probably not get a complete return on my time investment, but it keeps me motivated to finish since I know I can make it exactly how I want and end up with a product perfectly suited to me.
I’m just like you. I stumbled upon a book called Refuse to Choose and it’s about a personality type (that is definitely not ADHD) that happens to want to do a lot of things (sometimes in parallel or in sequence). It was very comforting to know others struggle with this and this book helps you to be ok with it. I wouldn’t say it “cured” me but I think about it differently now and use it more to my advantage. Worth a r…
That struggle is real. I've got a ridiculous amount of half-finished MVPs that I simply got bored of. It often makes me feel like an absolute failure, especially when I've told others about something I'm working on. When they ask "Hey, how is that project X you were working on 3 months ago going?" I'll have to think about it because it was probably 3 projects ago. But I think you're spot on. From each of these projec…
However, the best thing about all of these unfinished projects is it gets easier and easier to learn different things. Even when my interests don't have overlap they seem to add value to each other.
(I say this as someone with a hundred project folders, so I should follow my own advice. I will say when given a deadline to produce something, I deliver, warts and all.)
You must pick something that is really meaningful for you in a way that will make you feel good seeing the progress of the project you are working on. What would a Roguelike have to be to take your full attention? How a strategy game you really love has to look like? What you like beyond games? If you like gardening, make a game about it. Are you a sports fan? Make a sport game. You get the idea. I'm saying this beca…