Getting Bored Vs. Getting Done
When you begin a new project, you always begin with an immense amount of passion. You work diligently, economically, and with sharp focus.
Such ambition, however, can quickly subside after a few snags or if monotony begins to set in.
Unlike those that work in a development shop with several employees, we may have no one to push us but ourselves. As an indy developer, you not only need to be focused and regimented, but also must find ways to maintain your sanity.
A common solution adopted my man developers is to work on more than one project at a time. Starting a new project can feel like a mini-vacation. You get to solve new and interesting problems making work less like work (the way it should be).
Unfortunately, many of us go on “permanent vacations” (Aerosmith pun intended). It is a seductive trap to fall into. The path to indy success is littered with the many carcasses of unfinished projects.
It is a fine balance. On one hand, you need to focus and work hard to push out a product. On the other, burning yourself out can be difficult, if not impossible to recover from, emotionally and financially. It is far better to distract yourself for a few days with a side project than to open yourself to mental and financial ruin .
Like everything else you do as a micro-ISV, you need to police yourself (you are “independent” after all). Use iCal and schedule yourself a “2 day break” to work on another project.
Try to prevent boredom from setting in, in the first place. Make sure you outline discrete tasks and complete them one at a time. Completion is a reward that does not receive enough credit.
One tool I like to use is Scrumy. It is very easy to visualize your progress on individual tasks (Note: this is a scrum web service, but you don’t need to be completely versed in scrum to use it)
Another great tip from Matt Gemmell (via the MDN Show) is to create new components in a blank Xcode project. This allows you to focus on the task at hand and not let the rest of the project to “weigh” you down. There are other benefits as well which you can get from listening here.
What tips do you have for staying focused? How many projects can you successfully juggle and still make concrete progress? Let me know down below (I like cheap rhymes as well as puns).
Edited: To correct Matt Gemmell’s last name. How I spelled that wrong after hearing his theme song, I’ll never know.
Tags: development, productivity
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July 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Getting Bored Vs. Getting Done…
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July 10th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Well, instead of taking a break to work on another project, you can:
Go outside, for multiple days is necessary.
Go to the beach.
Go visit someone.
Go ride your bike for an entire day (pedal-powered or gas powered, either will work).
Or whatever.
This is better than starting a new project, because there’s no risk of abandoning your current one. And when you come back, you’ll be full of fresh ideas for your project – which gets you to Getting Done.
Although, I liked the suggestion to build out a new feature in a blank project. That’s taking a “break” and making progress at the same time!
July 10th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Good point, breaks are good! I probably should have mentioned that. Nothing quite helps like getting away.
July 12th, 2009 at 8:48 pm
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July 12th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
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July 14th, 2009 at 2:10 am
Set a time limit to work on your current task. Something like 40 minutes, and stick to it. At the end of the alloted time, stop. Go do something else for 15 or 20 minutes. Even if you’re “on a roll”, even if you’re not done. Then set a time on which you *have* to start the task again. Maybe its 15 minutes later, or maybe it’s the next day. Start the task even if you don’t feel like it.
This was counter to my instincts which would keep me working well past the end of the day, even into the middle of the night. And then once I had worked for a long time and maybe not finished the task to my satisfaction, I was reluctant to get back to it. And I wouldn’t start working on it until I felt “inspired”. Which could mean never.
But, after feeling burned out I looked around for advice, and found this little nugget in an advice article for PhD’s writing their dissertation. The reason it works for me is that if I quit in the middle of the task, I’m more eager to come back to it later. It prevents you from getting that tunnel vision that may lead you down the wrong path. It also gives me some distance, which often helps me figure solutions. And, while you’re away from your task you’re giving your brain the chance to work on the problem while you’re doing something else. This often happened to me when I’d have a hard problem in my physics class. I’d struggle with it all day and just couldn’t figure it out. I’d go to sleep and then I’d wake up a few hours later with the answer in my head.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
@robert
That’s pretty interesting advice. It imagine walking away in the middle of inspiration would be hard, but I could see the benefits.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
My response is a little long-winded, so I put up a whole blog post:
http://www.zetetic.net/blog/2009/07/23/staying-motivated-and-creative/
Hooray, conversations! In short: co-working is the answer, for me.
Cheers,
Billy
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:21 pm
@Billy
Nice post.
Although I code alone, I have increasingly been working with other independents, specifically graphic designers and marketers. It has really helped motivate me to work harder when my own motivation is lacking.
In the end, pushing out a product comes down to you finding motivation from wherever you can. Working within a focused group can be infectious.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Right on, dude!
Oh — thanks for the NSDate plug, glad to see that other folks are finding it useful! If there’s anything that sucks about it, feel free to sound off.