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How To Build Something Real (In Your Spare Time)

• antirez 17y ago
  I think the golden rule here is: build something that is going to be useful for yourself too, for the next years. If you are not an user of your own programs it's hard to get motivated. For example this is how I abandoned the development of hping. Because I stopped doing security for work I started using hping rarely, and I was no longer motivated to continue the development.
• samlittlewood 17y ago
  ... and leave an easy task to pick up when you resume.
  • benkant 17y ago
    I think that's an important point. I tend to have a few recurring ideas that I come back to. The trouble is, I have a bad habit of not keeping each project in a well maintained state. Most times when I come back to something I pretty much start again... ugh.
• fefzero 17y ago
  At first, some of these items seem to conflict (like "something every day" and "let life intrude"), but these are great rules of thumb. From what I've seen, too many developers just set out on a path without really mapping it out first. In my own experience I have often used the excuse that my project is so small that I don't need to write anything down for it, but that always comes back to bite me when I have to "let life intrude" for a week or so - I come back and I'm totally lost as to where to go next. Having lots of little milestones makes things go much more smoothly.
  • sunir 17y ago
    You can do 10 minutes every day. The important thing is to feel progress every day, or else you get depressed. The same advice is given to writers for the same reasons: write something every day, even if it's terrible. It keeps you feeling like you're moving forward, and that helps you break through any mental blocks.
• ahoyhere 17y ago
  Nice post. Great reminder for those of us who tend to put big, imaginary barriers between ourselves and finishing anything!
• patio11 17y ago
  Since building something is only 10% of the battle (if that) you're going to want to apply the same general techniques to the other things -- web design, marketing, support, etc. My favorite three words are "Automate, outsource, and eliminate". If neither you nor your customers require your personal attention to X, you should ideally not be X-ing, because you and your customers require your personal attention on enough things as it is. [Incidentally: Telling your parents and friends about your internal deadlines as a motivational tool is pretty useful. Telling your customers is a great way to get unproductively stressed when life gets in the way. Your parents and friends will still be there later if your schedule slips a week because your girlfriend needed more face time. Your customers, on the other hand, tend to be a little more insistent that when you tell them 2.0 is coming out on July 1st that it is actually out on July 1st.]
  • brlewis 17y ago
    Got any good resources for doing marketing in your spare time?
    • delano 17y ago
      Just think about who you're building the product for and how you can help them.
      • brlewis 17y ago
        If the product's built and you have a small happy/excited community, how do you market then?
        • aaronblohowiak 17y ago
          Advertise. There is a reason that ads pay for most of the stuff we like on the internet -- they work!
  • bdr 17y ago
    It depends what your battle is. This guide is more directed to hackers who want to build something cool than someone setting out to start a business.
• wallflower 17y ago
  > Unfortunately, [basic project management principles] often seem to go straight out the window when programmers sit down to work on their own time. Well stated. When you are working on your side project and not being paid/accountable to others, its easy to mismanage your resource (yourself). Does anyone use the free 1-project version of Basecamp for hobby project management?
  • subbu 17y ago
    I have noticed a bug tracking system works better for a one-man one-project setup. You can pretty much express everything in tickets/bugs. I am using lighthoseapp.com and its working just fine for me.
  • imp 17y ago
    I tried Basecamp once for a side project, but I quickly found myself not using it. No particular reason. I just didn't feel like I got much value out of it. Trac is pretty nice because it's lightweight and is tied right into my repository (if you use SVN). It seems to fit my workflow better.
• deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
• mlLK 17y ago
  I'm so undisciplined sometimes I wish I had my own personal drill-sergeant (akin to that guy from Full Metal Jacket) to kick my ass as soon I start losing my train of thought. . .does anyone else here consider their wandering train of thought a problem? Usually I spend so much time trying to figure wtf I should do that I either end-up micro-managing some code snippet that doesn't matter or day-dreaming about how awesome my hypothetical startup is, which frankly doesn't do anything at all! How do you guys manage to do work that really matters on your own time without anyone else there to keep you on task, implement a set constraints for you to work within, or tell you what the problem is? i.e. gimme some tips to self-manage my train of thought.
  • kqr2 17y ago
    There are life coaches who will do this sort of thing: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/04/life-coaching/ http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2008/04/life-coaching/
  • zackattack 17y ago
    Earlier today, my friend tried to convince me that the answer to this recurring predicament is to join the Marine Corps.
  • tricky 17y ago
    I'd like to hear some advice about this, too. anyone? anyone?!? I've often thought it would be awesome to find a personal assistant/drill-sergeant/project-manager to keep me on track. I can't figure out how to pull that off, though... Instead I remain frustrated with myself (and my 42 minute attention span)
    • ekanes 17y ago
      hey tricky, I'm interested in what you imagine a drill sergeant would do? How would it work? I'm creating a productivity course which might involve something extra like this. Any ideas? Thanks!
      • bjelkeman-again 17y ago
• abstractbill 17y ago
  This sounds like it would turn my hobbies into yet another job. I understand where it's coming from, but sometimes I like working on things that I don't have to finish.
  • prpon 17y ago
    Most of us are trying to create something of value that will allow us to get away from the corporate job frustrations. In the end you might be working longer/harder than that frustrating job, but at least it will a) provide for you and your family b)something you are proud of c) enjoy while doing it A finished project will help in that direction.
    • bdotdub 17y ago
      It's definitely difficult. As you lose momentum, it quickly diverges into another job and that can quickly lead to burnout or lack of motivation.
    • abstractbill 17y ago
      Oh, I can definitely sympathize with that position, having been in it myself, and I didn't mean to belittle the efforts of those currently trying to escape. I was speaking as someone who is already doing a startup. I've made the mistake of trying to have "serious" side projects at the same time... it's not a good idea.
• axod 17y ago
  I'd say the number one bit of advice would be "Get people to use it". Looking back at side projects that are sitting on a disk somewhere, abandoned, they went that way because no one was using them. Once you manage to get some people using your side project, it's a lot harder to just shelve it, and a lot easier to iterate and grow.
• ptn 17y ago
  Personally, what I lack the most is that "small amount of external pressure", but I've been trying to fix that, trying to get out of my vacuum and start collaborating with people.
• jnovek 17y ago
  For me and my company, my ability to finish things has had a lot more to do with me believing in the project. In my limited experience, you don't invest your time or your money into a startup. You invest yourself. You sacrifice your health, your relationships, and your political capital to make it work. And you don't do that because you have to or you want to. You do that because you only have one goal, and that's getting your company off the ground. There's nothing that I've ever invested myself in so fully as my company, aside perhaps from my marriage.
• c00p3r 17y ago
  It seems like so-called project management is mostly ideas adapted from the the great eastern traditions - yoga, buddhism, zen and eastern way to live in general. You can get almost any old book and you will find something called 'the way' - 'do'. Aikido is a good example, Bushido, and related teachings. btw, I admire those genius who drawing users-guides and promote projects in anime style. =)
• debsdell 17y ago
  First, know when "your spare time" is. After "completing" something (or just calling it quits for the day), go for it. Doesn't matter what gets "built". Just knowing you've done something enjoyable for yourself, whether it's tangible or not, is an accomplishment in itself. Second, if serious about building something others can benefit from, create that list...a plan in action...whatever you want to call it. Then you can measure your progress until it's DONE. Good luck.
• joshu 17y ago
  I built delicious while working a fairly grueling day job. - I had a deck of index cards and a binder clip. Have an idea, write it down. - I'd sit down and try to do just one thing. Look through the cards, find something easy. Even a little thing. After that it was okay to go to bed. - Keep the code chunks small. Make it easy to page in all the state for working on that bit of code. Everything but the file that actually rendered a single bookmark fit on a single screen. - Understand that some days you just won't get anything done. Go with it. - Get something out there. Feedback is incredibly motivating. - Relentlessly cut things back. What's the minimal amount you have to do. What can you remove? What can you get rid of? What's the minimal design that has conceptual integrity? If it's not necessary, get rid of it. I find that lopping off chunks of the ideas mean that other parts of the code and interactions with other parts of the system become less and less complicated. - Don't start working on something until it's reasonably complete in your head. It's ok to doodle in code, but don't spend hours building something that is conceptually fragmentary. Sometimes I think about an idea for months. There are ideas I came up with 5+ years ago that I'm still noodling on. - Keep an idea log. If you aren't working you aren't generating real ideas. - Be ready to abandon an idea for another one if you find yourself thinking about it more.
• ngsayjoe 17y ago
  You know how I motivate myself? I would subscribe to an oversized slice @ slicehost to remind myself everyday, I'd better get this thing out as soon as possible, otherwise I would end up paying those un-utilized resources as everyday passed by. It works magic, I ended up releasing my beta version within 4 months instead of the planned 8-12 months.
• nitrogen 17y ago
  The "something real" that was created in the article is a mind mapping web app. Clearly there is a need for a really good mind mapping and idea tracking software, since so many people are taking a stab at the problem (myself included).