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Finishing a side project

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Re: Finishing a side project

#91

Post by BiteCode_dev »

awinter-py wrote: post #66
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are used to put what we have done in git messages. But for WIP commits, it makes sense to also put what to do next. This way git log is your journal.

totally I've had people get mad at me for 'nextup' comments in commits, but at minimum, given how central git is to our workflow, the commit is the right time to track work

There is really no reason to get mad at that, if they want it in the final history, you can always edit it out with rebase when merging on stable.

But I don't see how it hurts.

Re: Finishing a side project

#92

Post by princevegeta89 »

bbx wrote: post #52

If you need to go to a café and create a new user for each new side project, you’re not gonna work a lot. I understand needing separate contexts for separate projects but this seems like overkill. The context is in your mind, not your environment. I have my share of past and ongoing side projects, including hobby websites [1], funny tutorials [2], an ebook [2], coding references [4] and a CSS framework [5]. Like the…

Thanks for responding. I love Bulma. It's the simplest and most intuitive CSS library I've ever used.

Re: Finishing a side project

#93

Post by rossmohax »

zuhayeer wrote: post #40

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. An…

Totally agree. When you explain your idea, you "live" in it, giving you a false sense as if future is already here and you achieved what you want. You get your portion of positive emotions without doing any work, so every next idea you do more talking and less walking.

Don't do it, keep it to yourself until there is something tangible to show.

Re: Finishing a side project

#94

Post by ramraj07 »

bbx wrote: post #60
ramraj07 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great that works for you, but your argument sounds akin to asking why someone couldn't score high on the exam when you did. Different people, different motivations. I relate more to the OP than you. Just saying "be disciplined" doesn't help. This isn't the army, it's a voluntary side project I want to do when I can be watching Netflix.

I don’t think it’s fair to believe I’m just saying “Be disciplined” when I explain how to manage your time. I do watch Netflix too. But it’s time boxed during the day, the same way working on projects is. And in a day, I don’t work more than 6 hours. I’m always done by 6pm and can do anything in the evening. The key is to manage your time during the day and stick to a plan. As a matter of fact, OP’s rules feel more l…

People like me and OP can't do what you say, which is just timebox things. I suppose we are not disciplined that way. I know how important exercise is, but I still cannot bring myself to work out every day or even every week. The only solution that works for me at least somewhat sometimes is to throw money at it or put external methods of forcing me to do the thing I actually want to do long-term. As a matter of fact, I go a step ahead of OP and have a separate laptop for personal projects. It's crappy and can't do much other than ssh so it's perfect. I suppose as long as one finds a system it's okay?

Perhaps if I get electroshock therapy and/or go to an ashram and meditate I might get more internal self-control, but I'm 32, and can't be bothered with it. Thats partly because I'm also not convinced it's that important that I become disciplined: sometimes being lazy feels good and maybe it's a part of what makes me who I am. I'm not self-sabotagingly lazy (except in exercise which I need to work on), so as long as I and others find a system why not?

Re: Finishing a side project

#95

Post by jamil7 »

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.

This was exactly my experience with my last side project, the standard PH, HN, indie hackers channels didn't work at all but niche subreddit communities worked really well. I now write updates about my progress in my projects own subreddit which has it's own followers.

Re: Finishing a side project

#96

Post by tkainrad »

Hmm, why is it so important to "finish" a side project? Can it not be something that you work on whenever you have time, for many years? As long as there are users, software projects are rarely "finished" completely.

I just released the first public version of my first real side project [1] and I don't expect it to be "finished" for years. I have so many ideas for the domain and I am sure new users will bring continued input. Are there popular examples for successful side projects like this?

[1] https://keycombiner.com - a web application to learn and train keyboard shortcuts

Re: Finishing a side project

#97

Post by Lammy »

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.

This comment really speaks to me as someone who just got a software project into a minimum-viable state after two years of this exact kind of off-and-on burst programming. I threw away several prototype approaches in that time and am left with something that should serve my needs for a long time without significant maintenance investment. It's nowhere near the most complicated thing I've ever written but is easily the thing I'm proudest of. I used to feel a lot more like the OP author, have only recently experienced what you describe, and really hope I can channel and maintain this as a way to avoid burnout and demotivation.

Re: Finishing a side project

#98

Post by losthobbies »

This is really useful.

My motto is make it easy to start but hard to stop. Stopping can be hard when you have built up some momentum and have a clear view of what needs to be done but I think it’s good to leave something for tomorrow.

Re: Finishing a side project

#99

Post by JimDabell »

jasonkester wrote: post #87
bbx wrote: post #52

If you need to go to a café and create a new user for each new side project, you’re not gonna work a lot. I understand needing separate contexts for separate projects but this seems like overkill. The context is in your mind, not your environment. I have my share of past and ongoing side projects, including hobby websites [1], funny tutorials [2], an ebook [2], coding references [4] and a CSS framework [5]. Like the…

The "Separate User Account" idea sounds especially odd to me, since that seems like it could only ever slow you down. The quickest way to build something is to have built it already. So let's say you're working on your new side project and you want to implement "Forgot Password" functionality. How do you do that? You open up your last project, copy it out, and plonk it down into the new one. Now imagine you had to do…

I create new user accounts for different projects too, and I don’t see why you think it’s so hard.

> Do you write a whole new system from scratch?

Do you really think that if you’ve written code before, that a reasonable option is that you "write a whole new system from scratch" just because it’s a separate user account? It seems like you’re just reaching for the most ludicrous straw man you can think of. "Oh no, I wrote this great account management system", but I did it in a different user account, so I guess it’s lost to me forever and I’ll have to start from scratch!"

> Clone that whole other project from source control into this new users' filesystem? It seems like a lot of work that you've made yourself.

`hub clone JimDabell/foo` – one command gets me whatever repo I want immediately. Or `hub browse JimDabell/foo` to open it in a browser if I only want to refer to some other project quickly. How is that "a lot of work that I’ve made myself"?

> If you're doing that as a way to somehow hack your focus so you don't get distracted, you're already lost.

It’s just a form of organisation, not the moral failing you seem to think it is. My documents directory contains only the documents that are relevant to the project I’m working on, the applications in my dock are all the ones specifically for the project I’m working on, command-line history, notification settings, browser plugins and tabs, application configuration, etc.

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