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Have you been around people who own a project from start to finish and nothing but their name is on it? The most common holdup is that it's never good enough f

by toolz 12y ago

Have you been around people who own a project from start to finish and nothing but their name is on it? The most common holdup is that it's never good enough for them. I've seen start up projects that I could've done solo in a couple of months that took a small team a couple of years. The reason for things like that is usually they don't ship a product and when you don't ship you don't have feedback motivation to work on the important things (or sometimes no motivation to work on anything at all)

AndrewKemendo 12y ago
Have you been around people who own a project from start to finish and nothing but their name is on it? I actually have never seen this. Everyone I have ever interacted with who was working on a project either had it in a customer's hands (so they said) or had it available on github for people to look at. I am sure it exists, but I have never run into anyone who refuses to release their work to anyone at all. In fact it's generally the exact opposite, they can't stop telling people about it.
- EliRivers 12y ago
  I have never run into anyone who refuses to release their work to anyone at all Maybe you run into these people all the time. You just don't know because they don't tell you about it.
91bananas 12y ago
I've seen start up projects that I could've done solo in a couple of months that took a small team a couple of years. Perhaps speaking to the net result of the product, you maybe could have done that in a couple months... But there is far more to building product and a company than one developer coding in a room. I highly doubt that you as an individual can create a solution that matches a good team with domain knogwledge, in fractions of the time it took them. This makes me think of 2048 the game, where the Dev took some time to build it, released it, and in hours there were clones in the App Store. Sure anyone can reverse engineer anything. Especially web sites where you are given their code. But thinking through, debating features and functionality, truly solving a hard problem takes time.
- toolz 12y ago
  That's precisely my point, although reading back I did a terrible job at making my point. I'm not a quick awesome rockstar or w.e. - I just know the value of getting something into users hands fast and finding out what my users think is important. With that motivation you don't sit around all day theorizing and rewriting your perfect little flawless gem and you get something out there that is always a little dirty, but continually meeting a need rather than sitting around fluffing someones ego. Their end product took quite a few iterations because they saw things they thought were better and started over so many times. You don't do that when you are solving problems for people, you can't just throw something away so you get dirty and you solve real problems. Sure, you're not going to win internet points on hacker news for the most pornographic code base, but you're actually helping someone with your code.
- gaius 12y ago
  The classic example was RMS cloning the features Symbolics created. It was possible because once you have figured out what to do, doing it is just code, that is the easy part.
- ocb 12y ago
  Haha, you have a good point, but 2048 is a terrible example because it's one of many clones of Threes. What you said applies very well to Threes, though.

by toolz 12y ago

AndrewKemendo 12y ago

Have you been around people who own a project from start to finish and nothing but their name is on it? I actually have never seen this. Everyone I have ever interacted with who was working on a project either had it in a customer's hands (so they said) or had it available on github for people to look at. I am sure it exists, but I have never run into anyone who refuses to release their work to anyone at all. In fact it's generally the exact opposite, they can't stop telling people about it.

EliRivers 12y ago
I have never run into anyone who refuses to release their work to anyone at all Maybe you run into these people all the time. You just don't know because they don't tell you about it.

91bananas 12y ago

I've seen start up projects that I could've done solo in a couple of months that took a small team a couple of years. Perhaps speaking to the net result of the product, you maybe could have done that in a couple months... But there is far more to building product and a company than one developer coding in a room. I highly doubt that you as an individual can create a solution that matches a good team with domain knogwledge, in fractions of the time it took them. This makes me think of 2048 the game, where the Dev took some time to build it, released it, and in hours there were clones in the App Store. Sure anyone can reverse engineer anything. Especially web sites where you are given their code. But thinking through, debating features and functionality, truly solving a hard problem takes time.

toolz 12y ago
That's precisely my point, although reading back I did a terrible job at making my point. I'm not a quick awesome rockstar or w.e. - I just know the value of getting something into users hands fast and finding out what my users think is important. With that motivation you don't sit around all day theorizing and rewriting your perfect little flawless gem and you get something out there that is always a little dirty, but continually meeting a need rather than sitting around fluffing someones ego. Their end product took quite a few iterations because they saw things they thought were better and started over so many times. You don't do that when you are solving problems for people, you can't just throw something away so you get dirty and you solve real problems. Sure, you're not going to win internet points on hacker news for the most pornographic code base, but you're actually helping someone with your code.
gaius 12y ago
The classic example was RMS cloning the features Symbolics created. It was possible because once you have figured out what to do, doing it is just code, that is the easy part.
ocb 12y ago
Haha, you have a good point, but 2048 is a terrible example because it's one of many clones of Threes. What you said applies very well to Threes, though.