4 ms·

Ask HN: How many concurrent projects do you have?

3 points by exit 16y ago

If just one at a time, how do you resist following the tangents which come up in any project?

mishmash 16y ago
Often work on several projects at a time here. Keep two text files on the desktop to sort them out, one small file (~200 lines) for concrete ideas and another large file for "future" or less defined thoughts. Inside each are project code names and a list of notes underneath each one. That way it's easy to add and keep additional ideas to the project, but doesn't require me to log in to a project management app, commit to a repo, etc. An unexpected benefit of keeping ideas from many different projects in single files is that an idea from one section often leads to an additional feature for another project.
paulsingh 16y ago
Right now, four major things on my plate. Most of my organization is with standard pen/paper. Tangents don't usually come up... unless you're a paying customer or you've committed to paying me if I build a specific feature for you.
kls 16y ago
As a freelancer, I may have up to 3 or 4 active paying projects at any given time but I have worked over the years to discipline myself to only one personal project at a time. I have a queue of projects that I would like to get to and when I have an interesting thought about them I document it in a project document but I never do development on them until I am done with my current personal project. The other rule I have on this is that I am allowed to jump ship in the first 2 weeks of starting a new personal project an go to a different idea. This allows me enough time to really decide if this is the one I want to focus on. The nice part about being disciplined in this manner, is that ideas that are nebulous in my mind are usually concrete by the time I get around to them. you would be surprised how much stuff gets worked out by just having a project floating around in your mind for a while. Almost every time I go through my notes when starting a new project, I think "wow I am glad I let this one roll around in my head for a while" because the notes create a very clear and coherent idea, by the time I get around to working on it. And I can usually see by my first notes that if I would have dived right in, I would have spun my wheels reworking better ideas that just popped into my head at a later date.

3 points by exit 16y ago

If just one at a time, how do you resist following the tangents which come up in any project?

Often work on several projects at a time here. Keep two text files on the desktop to sort them out, one small file (~200 lines) for concrete ideas and another large file for "future" or less defined thoughts. Inside each are project code names and a list of notes underneath each one. That way it's easy to add and keep additional ideas to the project, but doesn't require me to log in to a project management app, commit to a repo, etc. An unexpected benefit of keeping ideas from many different projects in single files is that an idea from one section often leads to an additional feature for another project.

paulsingh 16y ago

Right now, four major things on my plate. Most of my organization is with standard pen/paper. Tangents don't usually come up... unless you're a paying customer or you've committed to paying me if I build a specific feature for you.

kls 16y ago

As a freelancer, I may have up to 3 or 4 active paying projects at any given time but I have worked over the years to discipline myself to only one personal project at a time. I have a queue of projects that I would like to get to and when I have an interesting thought about them I document it in a project document but I never do development on them until I am done with my current personal project. The other rule I have on this is that I am allowed to jump ship in the first 2 weeks of starting a new personal project an go to a different idea. This allows me enough time to really decide if this is the one I want to focus on. The nice part about being disciplined in this manner, is that ideas that are nebulous in my mind are usually concrete by the time I get around to them. you would be surprised how much stuff gets worked out by just having a project floating around in your mind for a while. Almost every time I go through my notes when starting a new project, I think "wow I am glad I let this one roll around in my head for a while" because the notes create a very clear and coherent idea, by the time I get around to working on it. And I can usually see by my first notes that if I would have dived right in, I would have spun my wheels reworking better ideas that just popped into my head at a later date.