Sounds like the general definition of "finish" doesn't match with your own. One could "complete" or "finish" a project if the goal was to learn something specif

Sounds like the general definition of "finish" doesn't match with your own. One could "complete" or "finish" a project if the goal was to learn something specific (or general), although others wouldn't considered it finished unless it was deployed and others use it. I think lots of us would be better off if we redefined "finish" to basically mean "done", which you can define however you want :)