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There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

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Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#61

Post by O____________O »

I think you have technology-induced-ADD and blogosphere-induced-anxiety.

I think we engage in an awful lot of what amounts to mental masturbation. It's a lot more fun to imagine a project, think through the details of it, pick stacks, come up with domain names, etc. than it is to actually do the work. This is human nature. People do it all the time in all sorts of ways.

What seems to help for me is:

1) Stop trying to keep up so much. The New Hotness may change constantly, but a lot of that is just self-promotional noise on the interwebs. I've heard that there are still something like 30,000 VBA programmers out there (and they're very highly paid!), but you never hear about them, because it's completely unsexy. We read awesome blog posts by one-in-a-million developers and automatically compare ourselves to them, and it's a recipe for disaster.

2) Clearly define your project goals, meet them, and move on. It's so easy to allow feature creep or refactor-obsession to happen.

3) Time management techniques like the Pomodoro Technique. This has helped me immensely. I break down projects into tasks and estimate the number of Pomodoros. I make a mark for each expired one, and it becomes obvious when I've started over-obsessing on pointless BS (which happens a lot).

4) Endless to-do list. When intrusive thoughts and ideas pop into your head, write a summary in your to-do list and move on. You don't need to check if MyAwesomeDomain.com is available right this second, so put your idea on the list. How many of us think of the cool domain name and either get completely derailed, or tell ourselves "I'll just remember that for later!" and proceed to waste far more time later trying to remember WTF that clever idea was?

5) Unplug. It's sooo hard to just turn the computer off in the evening and sit down to read a book, but it helps quell the racing thoughts better than anything else I've found. The single worst habit I have is jumping down a tech rabbit hole, then relentlessly pursuing it until I've either solved it or literally start to fall asleep at the keyboard! (I bet that's a common experience here)

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#63

Post by j_lev »

whiskyant wrote: post #46

I don't get. You can successfully deliver products on time for clients whilst freelancing, but when it comes to your own product you jump around not able to get a single thing done? Since you freelance, I'm assuming you're already familiar with prototyping/moving quickly - so what's the problem here? Build your MVP quickly. It doesn't have to be perfectly coded with the utmost best practices or with the most efficien…

You nailed it. Learning to deliver was something that took years of experience at my day job, and came to me like an "a-ha" moment. Sounds like OP is already delivering maybe just not giving him/herself enough credit.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#64

Post by rkangel »

Two suggestions:

*

Number 1 - Stop trying to build the final 'Solution' and instead build a prototype or proof-of-concept.

The difference is that the Solution (imagine it said in a serious movie voice) needs to be well thought out, needs to be built on the right platform etc. etc.

If instead, you approach it as trying to knock together anything that will just about work to try your idea you might find fewer mental obstacles.

The PoC doesn't need a VPS, you can demo it served on your workstation. Your PoC doesn't need requirements, it probably doesn't even need tests to start with, it just needs to do something.

From there you'll either know it's a crap idea and throw it out, or you'll have something that you're excited about doing more to.

*

Second point - structure your time a bit more. You sound exactly like I used to be as a student. In theory the flexibility is great, work time can be whenever you want it to be and everything else is free time. In practice, it doesn't take much procrastination to never actually get any work done.

These days I have an office job, and it's great. I have work time, at the office, when I work. And then I leave and have free time, not being stressed because I should be working.

This obviously doesn't apply to you, but you can simulate it to a certain extent. Pick the days and times that are 'productive' time. Don't let weekends blur into weeks (if you want to do a 6 day week that's your call, but don't do a 7 - that way madness lies). Pick the hours in the day that are useful time, and then spend the rest in a bar, watching TV, whatever. And if at all possible, pick a place that's not your normal chilling out place to work in. It can be bottom of the garden, different room in the house, coffee shop, whatever.

Use all that to separate screwing around time (reading about Magpies on wikipedia, fiddling with Text Editor colour scheme) from useful productive time.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#65

Post by cityzen »

I would suggest reading this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1j5b28qqwb8m9xl/OverThink%20(1).pd...

I'm typically not a fan of the whole, "I started a business, buy my ebook" but this guy seems* successful by starting local businesses and building up revenue quick.

This page/paragraph really sums things up:

RESIST THE URGE TO COMPLICATE THINGS. For technical folks, it seems like the inclination to complicate things is overwhelming. So a problem like “find people that need lawn service and connect them with people that provide lawn service” becomes, “well how about we use Zillow’s APi to pull a picture of the lawn, and the customer confirms it by drawing an outline of the area to be serviced and we tie that into Google maps and feed everything into a pricing algorithm”.... and on and on. Unfortunately, many of these guys do not make it. More often than not simplicity wins. Get out of the customer’s way.

And this one was good as well:

YOU DON’T GET GOOD AT RUNNING MARATHONS by reading about running marathons. And you don’t get good at business by reading about business. You get good by doing. And doing it over and over again. But just like you wouldn’t expect to win the first marathon you entered, why put so much pressure on yourself to win at the first company you start? Or worse yet, paralyze yourself with fear into never running at all because you’re afraid you won’t win? It doesn’t make sense with marathons and it doesn’t make sense with business. So while a lot of folks over-analyze every minute detail about the thing, I would have already downloaded a training regiment, bought a pair of shoes, and hit the bricks.

That "book" is so short you can read it every morning and it will inspire you to get passed all of this.

*operative word

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#66

Post by findjashua »

Your troubles seem to stem from the fact that you want to use the best tools for your project (react, sublime, design patterns etc), and I see the same thing with a lot of my developer friends as well.

I'm kind of an oddball in that respect - I don't really care for the best set of tools, just the ones that get the job done quickly. Tools, for me, are just means to an end, my goal is to get the prototype up and running so I can get my friends to try it out and get some feedback.

I think changing your mindset - understanding that the tools are just a means to an end, and staying focused on getting the v0 out - might be helpful to your situation.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#67

Post by rudolf0 »

pavlov wrote: post #34
codecurve wrote: post #25

My GitHub profile is a wasteland of dead side projects and my Gandi account is full of .io domains that I never quite got round to using. I very much identify with this post and I don't know why it happens. When I'm at work I have no problem knuckling down and finishing a piece of software. However, in my free time, I'll come up with an idea, buy a domain, design a logo, create a repo, spin up a Digital Ocean instanc…

Finally, I get started and it goes great, the code is really elegant, I put a new programming technique/trick to use ... That suggests your primary driver was to get to try something new. Once you've satisfied that urge, you move on to the next bite-sized learning experience that will give the same initial rush. If you want to get into shipping mode, maybe you should try to explicitly force yourself out of "elegant e…

In most cases a competitor is not doing exactly what you want to do.

If your idea involves some sort of a gimmick or very specific point of attraction and that is already being used by a competitor, then sure, maybe you should pick a different idea. But otherwise there is likely much room for competitive advantage.

Re: There are too many shiny objects and it is killing me

#68

Post by wayfarer2s »

It sounds like you lack confidence. Which is not a "bad" thing. It's a completely understandable state to be in. You could probably do well with having a buddy or partner who supports your projects and builds up your confidence.

Know that when undertaking anything ambitious, the feelings of uncertainty you are having are par for the course. It's only natural to question whether you are worthy of even attempting such a grand idea. And it's only natural to try and set a safety net for yourself with "best practices", but if you are aiming high enough, safety nets aren't gonna save you anyway...

At some point, you have to venture out on your own and do things that tutorials and textbooks don't cover. A lot of great software was written in shit languages with shit computers in shit conditions, just because that's what those people knew. All those "best practices" you mentioned are relatively new, but think of all the great stuff that people had already created yet had no idea those concepts even existed. At the end of the day, you have to learn to fight with what you have because you're the important piece of the puzzle not the tools.

But as I said before, it's a very natural feeling to have. Some of my favorite quotes on the topic are:

  In large-scale strategy, people are always 
  under the impression that the enemy is strong, 
  and so tend to become cautious. But if you have 
  good soldiers, and if you understand the principles 
  of strategy, and if you know how to beat the enemy, 
  there is nothing to worry about.
      - Miyamoto Musashi

  There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, 
  no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to 
  follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own 
  mistakes; people learn only by error.
      - William Faulkner

  The good artist believes that nobody is good enough 
  to give him advice. He has supreme vanity. No 
  matter how much he admires the old writer, he wants 
  to beat him.
      - William Faulkner
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