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Ask HN: An accountability group to finally ship the thing you're working on

13 points by arrmn 11y ago

You start working on a side project, invest your time, you're really excited about it and everything you're going to do with it, but then it slowly fades out, because there is another cool new project that you've started, there is another article that you could read, there is another show that you need to watch and so on. So you "pause" this project, someday I'm going to finish it. It's the same case with my current project, so I was thinking about starting a small accountability group where everyone has the same goal, to launch something. I was thinking about creating a skype group, everyone sets a date and reports regularly on his track. What does hn think about it?

MiddTech 11y ago
Sounds like a "mastermind" or something approximating one. There is a service for matching people together for masterminds - > https://mastermindjam.com/ https://mastermindjam.com/ Just to be clear, there is no requirement to use a/the service, if you have people you know that works too. There is a lot of information around about structure and potential pitfalls as well as their solutions. Edit: No explanation Edit: Clarification
- arrmn 11y ago
  Yes it should be something like a mastermind group, I'll check out the link later do you have any experience with the service?
  - MiddTech 11y ago
    I'm currently in a group matched by the service and its working fine for me. There was a significant delay between signing up and being matched but i am fairly certain that was due to massive demand when it first opened. The others in my group had no such delay. If you know other people who might be interested in doing a mastermind group with you it might be better to group with people you know. In my case it was worth it to use the service, YMMV Edit: dammit, double spacing
  - NicheDiver 11y ago
    I've been matched by this service as well. For me, it also took a while to get matched but I knew going into it that there would be a waiting period. (We're not all easy to match, ya know?) After 9 weeks, half my group quit but customer support was very responsive and my group is now 100% full again. If you don't have the right people in your network or you don't have time to be "interviewing" a bunch of people to make up your own mastermind group, then a service like this is a no-brainer.
- Eridrus 11y ago
  This seems cool, are these physical or virtual groups?
  - NicheDiver 11y ago
    If I am understanding your question correctly, these are virtual groups in that we do not all live in the same place and we hold our meetings via Google Hangouts. However I will be physically meeting with the people in my group in April. We are all within 1 time-zone of each other so that helps. I suppose you could make whatever arrangements you want with your group once you know what everyone is up for.
HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago
Why? If you're so easily distracted, perhaps the thing you're working on isn't very interesting to you. There is zero value in finishing something just so you can say "I finished it." IOW: quitting is underrated.
jtfairbank 11y ago
I don't think an open community would work very well. The signal::noise ratio for each individual would be very high and they would have no social obligation to follow up with eachother. It seems no different than posting the latest update to Facebook / a blog / HN / Product Hunt. My two cents is to find driven people you already know and get a small group (5-10) together to do this. YC does this by subdividing its now larger batches into different groups that meet together with their mentors every two weeks. On my own, I created a slack channel with about 10 other U of I founders. We can all commiserate about our startups, help eachother out with intros, and share good news and progress. Its more meaningful as well due to the shared friendships and history. PS: If you're an Illini founder hit me up to join our slack. :)
- goodJobWalrus 11y ago
  I have just started a similar experiment, but matching people one-on-one, precisely because of the social obligation you mentioned. More here: http://peermentors.xyz/ http://peermentors.xyz/

13 points by arrmn 11y ago

MiddTech 11y ago

Sounds like a "mastermind" or something approximating one. There is a service for matching people together for masterminds - > https://mastermindjam.com/ https://mastermindjam.com/ Just to be clear, there is no requirement to use a/the service, if you have people you know that works too. There is a lot of information around about structure and potential pitfalls as well as their solutions. Edit: No explanation Edit: Clarification

arrmn 11y ago
Yes it should be something like a mastermind group, I'll check out the link later do you have any experience with the service?
- MiddTech 11y ago
  I'm currently in a group matched by the service and its working fine for me. There was a significant delay between signing up and being matched but i am fairly certain that was due to massive demand when it first opened. The others in my group had no such delay. If you know other people who might be interested in doing a mastermind group with you it might be better to group with people you know. In my case it was worth it to use the service, YMMV Edit: dammit, double spacing
- NicheDiver 11y ago
  I've been matched by this service as well. For me, it also took a while to get matched but I knew going into it that there would be a waiting period. (We're not all easy to match, ya know?) After 9 weeks, half my group quit but customer support was very responsive and my group is now 100% full again. If you don't have the right people in your network or you don't have time to be "interviewing" a bunch of people to make up your own mastermind group, then a service like this is a no-brainer.
Eridrus 11y ago
This seems cool, are these physical or virtual groups?
- NicheDiver 11y ago
  If I am understanding your question correctly, these are virtual groups in that we do not all live in the same place and we hold our meetings via Google Hangouts. However I will be physically meeting with the people in my group in April. We are all within 1 time-zone of each other so that helps. I suppose you could make whatever arrangements you want with your group once you know what everyone is up for.

HeyLaughingBoy 11y ago

Why? If you're so easily distracted, perhaps the thing you're working on isn't very interesting to you. There is zero value in finishing something just so you can say "I finished it." IOW: quitting is underrated.

jtfairbank 11y ago

I don't think an open community would work very well. The signal::noise ratio for each individual would be very high and they would have no social obligation to follow up with eachother. It seems no different than posting the latest update to Facebook / a blog / HN / Product Hunt. My two cents is to find driven people you already know and get a small group (5-10) together to do this. YC does this by subdividing its now larger batches into different groups that meet together with their mentors every two weeks. On my own, I created a slack channel with about 10 other U of I founders. We can all commiserate about our startups, help eachother out with intros, and share good news and progress. Its more meaningful as well due to the shared friendships and history. PS: If you're an Illini founder hit me up to join our slack. :)

goodJobWalrus 11y ago
I have just started a similar experiment, but matching people one-on-one, precisely because of the social obligation you mentioned. More here: http://peermentors.xyz/ http://peermentors.xyz/