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Finish your projects

github.com

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161–170 of 241 posts

Re: Finish your projects

#161

Post by robertlagrant »

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…

> On an emotional level, I think it's better to start from a place of (unconditional!) self-love, and go from there, rather than beating yourself up because you're not meeting some blogger's expectations of how you should act.

This will only cater for people who don't automatically apply that filter. I'd say for most people the article won't stream directly into their consciousness as fact, and they will be applying caveats already.

Re: Finish your projects

#163

Post by gryn »

kaba0 wrote: post #133
renewiltord wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Caffeine though really is a jackpot for humanity, it has realistically speaking no negative side effects. Even serious physical symptoms from withdrawal are basically just a week of headaches and other minor things.

only if it has an effect on you, I tried it many times and the only effect it seems to have on me is the bitter taste and heart palpitations if I drink too much of it.

if I'm tired or sleepy and drink it, I'm still tired/sleepy but with a higher blood pressure/heart rate.

sometimes I wonder if it's just people that oversell the effect of coffee.

Re: Finish your projects

#164

Post by bgoldste »

carb wrote: post #35

I love this article and the premise. Further similar reading/watching in some of my favorite Zack Freedman videos! - "Here's What's Preventing You From Finishing Projects": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo - "How to Finish Your Weekend Projects in One Weekend": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72a85tWOJVY "Finishing" more projects (even if that means changing the scope and announcing it "finished") has been…

Thanks for sharing these. Though I mostly do software I found his take very helpful.

Also nice to be reminded how fungible things are when no actual wires get involved.

Re: Finish your projects

#165

Post by ultranano1 »

Interesting idea but sometimes your projects aren't just a mess of errors and cryptic code. Sometimes they are clean enough, but mainly are just there to learn something, and spending all of the time finishing everything off to try to make it shippable is just a waste of the time that you could be spending on something worth shipping using your new found knowledge.

Although if projects are getting abandoned just because of the mess they are in, that's definitely something to work on.

Re: Finish your projects

#166

Post by heikkilevanto »

Although I agree with some of the advice, I also remind myself to the exact opposite: Kill your projects. If during a project you learn that it will not work, will not be as good as you hoped it would, or if the circumstances have changed, put it out of its misery. Do not let it hang around nagging for you to finish it. Declare it dead, maybe archive it somewhere far away, clean it out of your sight, and move on.

Do not consider a killed project to be a failure. Rather, it was an experiment with a negative result. You learned at least one thing that didn't work, and probably you learned a lot more.

It is better to start exciting and ambitious projects, of which some may succeed, than to play it safe and only start working on something simple and boring that you already know will get released.

Re: Finish your projects

#167

Post by bayindirh »

kaba0 wrote: post #133
renewiltord wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Caffeine though really is a jackpot for humanity, it has realistically speaking no negative side effects. Even serious physical symptoms from withdrawal are basically just a week of headaches and other minor things.

> it has realistically speaking no negative side effects.

Realistically speaking, that's not true. I did some voluntary experiments on myself during Ph.D. corrections process and, besides resistance, when coupled with a lot of hard work for a prolonged time, it's certainly very unhealthy for the body.

If you regulate your consumption and pair it with good sleep, it's a boon. Otherwise, it's a slow-killing drug.

Re: Finish your projects

#168

Post by abdela »

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…

Agreed. Be forgiving, also towards yourself.

Re: Finish your projects

#169

Post by vaylian »

outsomnia wrote: post #159

"Finish your projects", finger wags cheerful guy full of certainties, paid by large American corporation that makes money from your finished projects and doesn't care what happens to you before, during or afterwards.

It makes sense to add this context. But I still think the advice and explanations in the blog post are more generally applicable than just to GitHub projects.

Re: Finish your projects

#170

Post by abdela »

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…

Agreed. Better to reflect honestly and stop, take the valuable lessons. I try to have fun working on my projects, and not think about the end result all the time. If you are not motivated by money, that is a lot easier of course.
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