I've come to strive for what I call the minimum overhead principle. If I have a project going on I make it as easy as possible to continue (editor open, pad and

I've come to strive for what I call the minimum overhead principle. If I have a project going on I make it as easy as possible to continue (editor open, pad and paper at hand etc) and try to do at least a few minutes per day. Sometimes it's only those few minutes and sometimes I can get a few hours in. And those add up. For personal software projects I've discarded all engineering principles and do what I would call structured hacking. Everything is neat and tidy but only up to a point that it lets me progress swiftly.