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Finish your projects

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Re: Finish your projects

#111

Post by ramity »

I don't really subscribe to the idea of "finishing" or "completing" a project; I'm sure my personal github can attest to that. I think "real" software is never done. The only things in software that are completed are the fractions of software we abstractly define (tasks, features, sprints, deliverables, etc). Much like us, real software lives until it doesn't. It changes through time sometimes regressing and expanding. Software whose goalposts remain static becomes deadware.

Outside of commercial projects, I program for the joy of creation and commonly, and paradoxically, automating for the sake of "not automating." I jump from project to project, sure, but I've found the largest source of not wanting to go back to a project is the difficulty of doing so. Having to pick things back up to juggle and going through the motions of learning what my software did and what needs to be done was always a pain.

My real breakthrough was "optimizing being able to leave." Comments like I'd be picking up the software months/years later, READMEs detailing build steps and rationale and planned features, automating dev environment setups with docker, break features/work into pieces so it isn't overwhelming, etc. These are just some of the many ways to make it easier.

Sometimes you don't want to go back because all you can think of is the known (or unknown) work that lies ahead of you. The fewer the reasons to not go back, the easier it is, and if it's easy to pick back up, you'll find yourself picking things back up when the time is right. Sometimes inspiration hits while working on other stuff, and I say that's fine. Embrace that.

Commercial software is a bit more narrow in the selection of how one can start and stop on work (I call this "task shopping"), but being in tune with yourself and vocalizing that during standups/meetings/whatever can help. Can't seem to finish a task? Maybe the task was too big to begin with, scope/feature creep set in, or whatever. Create tasks for what you've gotten done and what needs to be done. Lay out some groundwork to explain how someone might pick up the new tasks. Do that and you'll find yourself "optimizing being able to leave."

"You must become comfortable with the grind-it-out nature of the last 10% of a project." I really don't align with this statement. Software can and should be a joy to do. Sure, there are aspects that can make it feel like a grind, but this is a question of framing. After all software development is technically data entry (don't think about this too much).

Re: Finish your projects

#112

Post by aarondf »

jmort253 wrote: post #93
interroboink wrote: post #11

In general, I like the empathetic tone of the article, and I appreciate that it addresses an emotional facet of software development. But nevertheless it triggers some little part of me w/regard to telling people what they should or should not do, or what they may be proud of. I worry for someone who reads "You also have a duty to your future self to release the project" and "...you tell yourself that you are the kin…

When I read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, the book was written in second person point of view (using you/your vs I/my or they/theirs). It sounded like the former emperor was talking directly to me, but later I found he was writing to himself. He never intended for his works to be published. With that in mind, it may be possible the blogger, Aaron Francis, in this case is also speaking to himself.

It's me. I am that blogger.

You're 100% right and weirdly, that did not occur to me until today. Insightful comment!

Re: Finish your projects

#113

Post by renewiltord »

joecot wrote: post #100
jmort253 wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't know about the opium. He mentioned not getting addicted to things in the book. I bet he was talking about all of the things he had done wrong in his life. Do what I say not what I do.

Romans didn't consider opium an addiction as much as a medicine. Same as many of the drugs we now consider illicit. Marcus Aurelius was taking opium every day for "stomach issues" (krohns or similar perhaps?) and "nerves".

Interesting. Like how people are absolutely juiced to the gills on caffeine these days, riding a stimulant Shai Hulud across the sands of time.

Re: Finish your projects

#114

Post by stcroixx »

BeetleB wrote: post #29
aarondf wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nuanced and valuable feedback, that I receive. Thank you! I think your edit was basically going to be my reply, haha. It is hard to address every side of every potential topic in an article. I actually needed help softening the tone to end up with the final version you're reading today. I'm empathetic by nature so it's easy for me to write with empathy, but I'm still prone to generalizing my personal experiences!

> You have a duty to your past self to release the project. It’s a way to honor your work and sacrifice. All the time spent on the project is time you could have spent on something else. That time was not without cost. Ouch! I strongly encourage you to read up and understand the sunk cost fallacy. In general, do not let past efforts be the guide for future decisions. I've quit a lot of projects in my life. And it was…

Understanding the sunk cost fallacy and having an opinion like the authors are not mutually exclusive. It doesn’t always apply and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to abandon whatever one feels like without guilt.

Re: Finish your projects

#115

Post by aarondf »

HellsMaddy wrote: post #107
aarondf wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One thing: internal satisfaction. External success, too! The biggest one recently was releasing a course on MySQL at https://planetscale.com/mysql-for-developers . It was painful to push that over the finish line, but giving up on it would have been a huge disservice.

Aaron, thank you for this course! I started watching it about a week ago, and I love your teaching style. I've been using relational databases for years, but my conceptual understanding was never that strong. I hadn't touched MySQL in particular for several years. Your course not only got me back up to speed, but I learned a lot of things I'd never known before. I love how you organize your lessons, how you make sure…

Gah, this is so encouraging. Thank you for taking the time to say so! I put _so_ much into that and I'm glad to hear it's been helpful for you. Organizing the content was actually a really big struggle for me, so this is particularly meaningful.

Re: Finish your projects

#116

Post by zi_ »

aarondf wrote: post #83
Aeolun wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it’s really fair to count projects on your day job, unless you have the option of unilaterally cancelling those by yourself? And even then, you have a lot of extra external motivation (money, peer pressure, boss) to keep pushing when you’d otherwise give up. Not to say that the satisfaction is any less, but the environment seems different.

A lot of my day job work is self directed because our managers expect a lot out of us but also leave us alone to do the work (amazing right?) but message received. Let's take one not related to software at all! I turned a shed into an office over the course of many months: https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/1333866090573811723 . I wanted to give up and burn it down at some points, but I powered through and ende…

Thank you so so much for listing these examples. I am the exact target audience for your financial accounting videos. Immediately bookmarked and shared with a few of my close friends. Appreciate you for finishing these projects -- they definitely will come in valuable for people like me :)

Re: Finish your projects

#117

Post by h0l0cube »

stcroixx wrote: post #114
BeetleB wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You have a duty to your past self to release the project. It’s a way to honor your work and sacrifice. All the time spent on the project is time you could have spent on something else. That time was not without cost. Ouch! I strongly encourage you to read up and understand the sunk cost fallacy. In general, do not let past efforts be the guide for future decisions. I've quit a lot of projects in my life. And it was…

Understanding the sunk cost fallacy and having an opinion like the authors are not mutually exclusive. It doesn’t always apply and shouldn’t be used as an excuse to abandon whatever one feels like without guilt.

And applying sunk cost fallacy indiscriminately can itself be fallacious as the rewards may be so unpredictable or intangible as to elude simple calculus

Re: Finish your projects

#118

Post by moomoo11 »

Really nice read!

I too play the same songs on repeat. I love death metal so I just listen the songs that make me want to wage intergalactic war on other planetary systems and play them on repeat lol.

Once I’m in the zone there’s no coming back unless it’s with the spoils of victory!

Re: Finish your projects

#119

Post by hutzlibu »

anoy8888 wrote: post #81
jhp123 wrote: post #30

To take the contrary position: give up. Your project will take far longer than you think, and you will get much less from it than you hope (at least in terms of external validation and rewards). You may feel a horrible pressure to finish it, but you are a free person and can simply choose not to. You can free yourself from this pain without lifting a finger. Go take a walk or bake some cookies instead. If you have th…

Look , 90% of good work / product won’t exist if people all give up because they don’t want to grind and only work if they feel like it . You cannot get rid of grinding in any projects even if you are passionate about it . There are gonna be times or parts of it that you need to grind. No excuse if you choose to be a grown up

There is work that is unpleasant but needs to be done (chasing raceconditions, memory leaks, etc.) - and there is grind, that kills all your love for the project. If it is the latter, I really do recommend to make a break and do something else. I tried both and grinding did not work out, but coming back fresh did and I usually immmediately spotted the problem, I otherwise would have wasted lots of energy on it.

Re: Finish your projects

#120

Post by rocho »

I found this paragraph so relatable:

> Personally, I like to put a single song on repeat for hours and hours, days even. It helps me zone in. Why does this admittedly strange behavior help me? I'm not sure exactly, but I've known it to be helpful for more than half my life. I like to get up early before the family is awake, close Slack, put my phone in Do Not Disturb mode, and work. I even put a Post-it note on my monitor with the task I'm focusing on to help keep me on track. Sometimes I can accomplish more in that quiet hour and a half than I can in the rest of the day.

Except for the post-it note, I do those exact things. These seem to be the essential pre-requisites to being very productive (for me):

1. Set aside some time to work on something specific (with clear goals and intentions).

2. Block all interruptions (messages and calls of any kind and other distractions).

3. Focus and get in the zone. I find that music helps a lot here, and generally for me it's electric music or songs with very subtle lyrics (almost dream-like). If the lyrics are too noticeable, they become a distraction.

The above works both for my personal projects and work. I work remotely and sometimes there are so many interruptions during the work day that I simply abandon everything and go do something else (a walk, groceries, work out, etc.). Then I catch up in the evening or during the weekend, when interruptions are at a minimum or completely absent for hours on end. Almost always I'm more productive in a couple hours like this than for entire days.

Finally, while I liked the article a lot, I disagree with the premise that projects _must_ be finished. It's fine not to finish a project, it's not failure at all. On the other hand, yes, there is a certain feeling of accomplishment that comes with reaching a level of "completeness" of a project.

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