[HN Gopher] Haunted by my own projects
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Haunted by my own projects
Author : mooreds
Score : 48 points
Date : 2024-11-28 00:25 UTC (7 days ago)
(HTM) web link (cassidoo.co)
(TXT) w3m dump (cassidoo.co)
| Terr_ wrote:
| Some of it is to identify "wins" that are less than a launch,
| often involving new learning, experience, or practice.
|
| For example, I have a lingering inactive car project, where I can
| still say I learned something about poking around with a
| multimeter, disassembling car parts, soldering, Arduino chips,
| and CAN buses.
| jerf wrote:
| I've learned a ton from all my half-completed projects over the
| years that has factored directly into my skills at work.
|
| I know this sort of sounds... simplistic... but, well, observe
| that when you aren't thinking about it, the half-finished
| projects don't hurt you. You just need to extend that to when you
| _are_ thinking about them.
|
| Your projects are not obligations. Nobody is waiting for them.
| Nobody is going to fire you, or ground you, or anything else, if
| you don't finish them. Even if you did put up a post somewhere or
| something talking about how you've got this wonderful new thing
| you totes promise will be available in three months... nobody
| cares yet. And even if they do, well, declare bankruptcy and move
| on. If that's their biggest disappointment this week they will be
| in an enviable position.
|
| In fact from a perfectly rational point of view, many of those
| projects maximize their value to you in precisely the state they
| are in now. It's quite easy for a released project to go quite
| negative in value to you, due to obligations suddenly actually
| appearing, having a system that can be hacked and maybe people
| who can be hurt by a hacked system, etc.
|
| I developed a rule of thumb from this. It's very klunky, I won't
| deny that, I never found a good phrasing for it, but I think of
| "Never engage in an endeavor where the worst case scenario is
| _complete success_. " It's really my side projects I'm thinking
| of when I say this. Do I have an interesting idea for how to
| create a new type of community site or bulletin board or Reddit
| competitor? Sure, that's fun to program, but what if it actually
| _worked_? Do I want to actually own such a thing? Goodness
| gracious no. So maybe I do the fun part and then just let it sit
| on the hard drive, and call it a win.
| surprisetalk wrote:
| "discipline" seems to be a key word here.
|
| I've been feeling similarly haunted by projects, which I now call
| a "one man war of attrition":
|
| [1] https://taylor.town/attrition
|
| It's a weird spot, because you need enough discipline to convince
| yourself to expend more effort than watching Netflix, but also
| not stress yourself out.
|
| As a concept, "building in public" has been not great for
| convincing myself to do more.
|
| I think TodePond's "slippy mindset" might be more useful for
| these situations:
|
| [2] https://www.todepond.com/explore/tadi-web
| RandomThoughts3 wrote:
| Just finish your god damn project or don't if you don't want to.
| Be an adult, decide. You're welcome.
| fitsumbelay wrote:
| for me this issue's been about mindset: having a bunch of
| incompletes can be frustrating but in the long run it's better to
| have half finished projects than not, because
|
| 1) doing the work is always beneficial for learning and
| experience
|
| 2) rediscovery of an oldie but goodie can be its own endorphine
| popper
|
| 3) more often than not, new goals or circumstances emerge that
| add new relevance to incomplete bits and pieces
|
| I can imagine there are probably more similar reasons to see
| unfinished work as investment rather than time lost
| efields wrote:
| Some amount of discipline is certainly good, but too much can be
| bad for your health. It comes down to value.
|
| It's okay to not finish side projects -- they were fun for a bit!
| Good for you for finding some low-cost fun!
|
| I make music in my spare time and in the past year I think I
| barely have an EP worth of tracks that are _nearly finished_, but
| I've got dozens of neat loops. I've come to peace with this
| because the value I'm looking for is in the act of spontaneous
| creation with my instruments.
|
| I put down movies, tv shows, video games when they start to feel
| like an obligation rather than a fun pursuit. The value starts to
| taper off. I think that's okay. I have a day job making computer
| things, a family... free time is so precious. Why force a non-
| interest?
| eternityforest wrote:
| It starts being a problem if the side projects _aren 't_ fun
| for a bit. Such as if they're really big and complicated and
| absurdly tedious and you only do them because they're "going to
| be really fun in a year" or something, and you never get there.
| Or you do and find it's still tedious work.
| levkk wrote:
| You don't have to finish them, but you should share them anyway.
| Software is never finished, so hitting the state where you're
| happy with what you've built isn't likely to happen.
|
| The same philosophy applies to other ventures and ideas. Just
| ship it.
| bsnnkv wrote:
| It's not clear to me from this article if the author has shipped
| a version of those projects which are "almost done", or whether
| they are closed sourced "product"-type projects or edu source
| projects where all of the commits and progress are public.
|
| I wrote earlier this week on HN[1] about my very recent
| experience trying to ship _something_ (in the "product" category)
| to alpha testers in <1d and to an open beta in <7d, and it's
| something I recommend highly for people who are stuck wanting to
| go from "almost done" to "done" before shipping.
|
| There is so much valuable feedback to be gained by shipping
| _something_ as soon as possible, and often just the act of
| getting that feedback goes a long way towards breathing fresh
| life into a project you might be starting to feel a little burnt
| out on.
|
| [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42307710
| mlsu wrote:
| Things kinda changed for me when I realized that 'discipline'
| actually should refer to scope.
|
| what's fun about side projects is that the scope is
| unconstrained. you work on whatever you want to work on. you
| change scope at any time.
|
| I found it helpful to explicitly think about the scope of my
| side projects. to answer the question "what will I ship when
| this is done." The answer is, of course, that it's never done
| -- that's because the scope can change at any time. the
| solution is to keep the lofty ideal very large but greatly cut
| the scope of the intermediate steps.
|
| the answer isn't discipline of "finish it" -- it's the
| discipline to "scope it."
| chris_wot wrote:
| I think... just ship it. Especially if it is an open source
| project!
| berdon wrote:
| Mirroring other peoples thoughts.
|
| It took me close to 20 years to finally shed the guilt of
| unfinished software projects.
|
| Side projects can just be about having "fun". Just as going for a
| walk, or reading a book, listening to music, etc can just be done
| for fun. I don't have to finish any of these things. I don't have
| to finish side projects. Fun things don't have to be useful,
| purposeful, practical, or anything but they should be fun.
| pietherr wrote:
| Maybe some were just PoCs and they served their purpose.
|
| You could: Pick them up (cd into the project dir) Say thank you
| cd .. && rm -rf $projectdir
| mikewarot wrote:
| My BitGrid project has been in the vague area between the void
| and the world for decades. It's only now that the pieces are
| coming together to finish it and finally see if it was actually a
| good idea or not.
|
| Hang in there
| tony-allan wrote:
| You need to get in touch with @keyvank!
|
| [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42332337
| joshdavham wrote:
| I can definitely relate a bit to this article, but I'd argue that
| you are in no way obligated to finish these projects and
| shouldn't have to feel guilt over them. Remember, they're _side_
| projects.
|
| Also, I'd consider whether you really truly want to finish these
| projects, or if you moreso just want them to _be_ finished. I 've
| found that there's a big difference between wanting to work on
| something and wanting that thing to be finished, if that makes
| sense. In general, if it's not your main project, if you don't
| truly want to work on it, don't.
| CM30 wrote:
| Oh I know this feeling all too well. Still got some projects in
| limbo after a decade or so that I feel I should finish soon, but
| which I never get around to.
|
| And I get it. It's probably best to call it quits on many
| projects like this. To accept that you've had your fun with the
| concept, and that you shouldn't force yourself to finish
| something you've got no more passion for.
|
| But it's easier said than done, and the sunk cost fallacy always
| lurks in the back of your mind regardless.
| thedookmaster wrote:
| Re: domains
|
| You can run each project on its own subdomain on a shared domain.
| Example: app1.mysite.com app2.mysite.com. This can save you tens
| of dollars a year and save you some headaches. Probably not
| optimal for SEO, but for random projects it's pretty good.
| Client4214 wrote:
| Have you thought about talking with other people about them to
| see if others would be interested in collaborating on them with
| you?
|
| I find myself in a very relatable state and also a software dev.
| I have bursts of motivation at different times of year, but also
| still have an endless pile of nearly finished projects that I
| feel guilty about when I have that new shiny project in hand.
|
| Drop me a message if you want to chat.
| paulbjensen wrote:
| I read that post and it was so relatable.
|
| Some projects at work suffer some a similar quirk - the last
| 10%-20% of the work remaining on the project takes longer than
| the rate at which the first 80% of the project is completed.
|
| It's like the leftover bits that aren't as exciting or engaging
| (bug fixes, documentation, little tweaks) always end up making
| that work feel like a chore rather than a joy.
|
| Years ago a colleague coined a term for their ideal way of
| working - Mood Driven Development - they worked on what they
| wanted to work on.
|
| It feels like it has a similar trait to creative work such as art
| or writing or music - you let the creative block have its moment,
| then when that passes and the creative juices start to flow,
| that's the moment to do the work, but if you achieve flow state
| then it ceases to be work, it's just natural.
| mtrovo wrote:
| I totally get this feeling. What helps me sometimes is
| recognising that both working on something and not working on it
| are valid choices, as long as it's coming from your reasoning.
| It's a freeing thought because it means the choice is really
| mine, not just inertia or guilt.
|
| Compare that to professional life, where so many times we get
| stuck in death marches, feeling like we can't say no to projects
| that have already lost any change to reach their full goal. With
| side projects, at least we have the control to decide if it's
| worth it or not.
|
| Something I've started doing that's a very good exercise is
| brainstorming my project ideas with ChatGPT. I'll treat it like a
| project manager, spill all my thoughts, talk through adding
| features and finding ways to make the idea bigger. If it still
| feels exciting after that, I'll dive in. Even if I don't, it's
| like letting intrusive thoughts come and go during a meditation
| session, afterwards regardless of the outcome I feel I can clear
| my head and just move on.
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