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Finishing a side project

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Re: Finishing a side project

#31

Post by jv22222 »

antigirl wrote: post #29
jv22222 wrote: post #26

I've found the #1 trick to finishing a side project is to build it out in the open by writing a blog (or podcast) about it and building up an audience who are interested in seeing you finish it as you go along. It also gives you an in built audience to launch with who will use it - rather than launching to a loud thud of silence - which sucks and feels like the long dark night of the soul.

Then you’ll just have a bunch of indie hackers following you. Not the actual customers? Real customers only care about your journey in hindsight. People want to know how Apple etc started, not many will care for journey of a new tech until it’s released.

That has not been my experience.

I've always found that early adopters and innovators are very interested in being first customers and following your journey.

It also depends on what side project you pick. So, there is some nuance for sure.

[edit removed link]

Re: Finishing a side project

#32

Post by realusername »

antigirl wrote: post #29
jv22222 wrote: post #26

I've found the #1 trick to finishing a side project is to build it out in the open by writing a blog (or podcast) about it and building up an audience who are interested in seeing you finish it as you go along. It also gives you an in built audience to launch with who will use it - rather than launching to a loud thud of silence - which sucks and feels like the long dark night of the soul.

Then you’ll just have a bunch of indie hackers following you. Not the actual customers? Real customers only care about your journey in hindsight. People want to know how Apple etc started, not many will care for journey of a new tech until it’s released.

That's exactly the reason why the indiehackers website is going circles publishing products which are used within their own audience. If you are building something not targeting this demographic, that's not going to help you get more customers.

Re: Finishing a side project

#33

Post by roland35 »

Splitting into small chunks is the biggest (ironic) help for me honestly. With kids now, I only have a half hour or so every few weeks I can work on something so I try to make it a nice achievable task I can actually accomplish! Otherwise I seem to just pick up a movie or just read online...

Re: Finishing a side project

#34

Post by mundo »

willcipriano wrote: post #22
jjcm wrote: post #18

At least for myself, I found it detrimental to set milestones that were based in features. The main reason was I'd rush to finish a feature, get all excited about shipping it in "only 1 week!", then tell myself I deserved a week off. That week turns into a month, then you lose mental context. What I found key was making it a habit to work on it. Side projects, especially solo ones, take a long time to complete. If wo…

I work this way and use this method to help keep me on track: https://lifehacker.com/jerry-seinfelds-productivity-secret-2...

Ironic, considering that his new Netflix special is mostly material he's been doing for years, but this does sound kind of cool:

> He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

Sounds like the visual commit history on github, now that I think of it. My side project is on a local git, and that's the only thing I miss - the calendar.

Re: Finishing a side project

#35

Post by jv22222 »

realusername wrote: post #32
antigirl wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you’ll just have a bunch of indie hackers following you. Not the actual customers? Real customers only care about your journey in hindsight. People want to know how Apple etc started, not many will care for journey of a new tech until it’s released.

That's exactly the reason why the indiehackers website is going circles publishing products which are used within their own audience. If you are building something not targeting this demographic, that's not going to help you get more customers.

I think that might be a generalization and likely provably not true (in the larger context of the site).

https://www.indiehackers.com/products?sorting=highest-revenu...

Re: Finishing a side project

#36

Post by dustingetz »

I used to have trouble doing the work. But when I got honest with myself, I had a very specific problem that was preventing me from doing the work. Once I fixed my problem, I was able to do the work. My side project pays salaries now. "Everyone has at least one big thing that stands in the way of their success; find yours and deal with it" Ray Dalio

Re: Finishing a side project

#37

Post by tmzt »

fiddlerwoaroof wrote: post #14
deeg wrote: post #8

I find that the best way for me to finish a side project (for some definition of "finish") is to work on something that I want to use. Sometimes my motivation will flag for a few months until I want to use it; then the motivation kicks in and I'm productive while I improve/fix the project to make it work better for me.

Relatedly, it’s about working on something that will be useful quickly and you can polish after you’re already using it every day. E.g. I got really fed up with how clunky the AWS assume-role workflow was at work with multiple AWS accounts so I wrote a little tool using Lispworks’s CAPI for a GUI that would handle authentication and embed a webkit browser so I could control the cookies more precisely. I got an MVP th…

I would absolutely love a browser extension version of that. Current using Last Pass and searching for the accounts to switch to.

Re: Finishing a side project

#38

Post by robotichead »

> Small steps are key

I have been working on NearBeach for nearly 4 years. I have always done it in small steps.

- Implement projects functionality

- Implement customer/organisation functionality

- Implement tasks

- etc.

I find this helps me keep myself motivated. That and I couple it with a set goal - a very achievable goal.

Currently NearBeach is a minimal viable product currently going through a UI/UX and backend refactoring, with the goal of improving UI/UX and backend readability of the code.

Re: Finishing a side project

#39

Post by intrepidhero »

NOGDP wrote: post #27
deeg wrote: post #8

I find that the best way for me to finish a side project (for some definition of "finish") is to work on something that I want to use. Sometimes my motivation will flag for a few months until I want to use it; then the motivation kicks in and I'm productive while I improve/fix the project to make it work better for me.

The problem with this, for me, is that almost anything I want to do can either be accomplished with existing tools or is too complex for a doable side project.

I used to feel the same but in the last year I got sick of saying, "that sounds too big" and just started hacking. By focusing on small bits at a time I've been surprised at how far I've gotten. I'd encourage you reevaluate what's too complex. You might surprise yourself.

Re: Finishing a side project

#40

Post by zuhayeer »

Someone once told me: don't talk about your idea to others until you're done building it and have something to show (at least an MVP). Surprising how motivating this was for me to finish my projects even if they're not perfect.

That way you don't mentally feel like you're accomplishing things by just texting the idea around. The discussion bloats your senses and conflates self-reassurance with getting things done.

And secondly, sometimes its easier to communicate an idea by building it than to try to use words to describe your intangible hallucinations. Translation from your head to words to someone else's head is pretty lossy (esp on things like Twitter, though I do think its a great creative exercise)

They say the difference between a vision and a hallucination is that other ppl can see a vision (h/t Ben Horowitz). But no matter what, everyone can see cold hard product.

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