The Side Project Problem
Most side projects die in the gap between 'this would be cool' and 'this is actually useful.' Here's what I've learned about crossing it.
I have a graveyard of side projects. Most developers do. The half-finished API wrapper. The productivity app that got to 70% complete before I got bored. The CLI tool that I built for myself, used twice, and never touched again.
For a while I thought this was a discipline problem. If I just forced myself to finish things, the graveyard would stop growing.
I was wrong. The graveyard is a symptom of something else.
The real problem: shipping to nobody
The projects that die share a common trait: I built them for a hypothetical user who never showed up — or built them so privately that they couldn’t show up even if they wanted to.
The ones that survived all had something in common too: early feedback, from real people, that changed what I was building. Accountability is a powerful finishing force. So is the knowledge that someone is actually waiting for the thing.
What actually works
Start with a constraint. Not “I want to build a note-taking app” but “I want to build something I can ship in a weekend.” The constraint forces prioritization in a way that an open-ended scope never will.
Build the embarrassing version first. The thing you’d be ashamed to show. Get it working, then get it visible. The gap between embarrassing prototype and polished product is much smaller than the gap between no prototype and polished product.
Tell someone before you’re ready. The social pressure of having said “I’m working on X” is underrated. It’s not about accountability in a formal sense — it’s about making the project real before it’s easy to abandon.
Abandon fast when it’s right. Some projects should die. The useful skill is telling the difference between “this is hard and that’s fine” and “this is wrong and I should stop.” The first is a reason to continue. The second isn’t.
On finishing things
There’s a version of this advice that says finishing is a moral virtue — you should finish everything you start. I don’t believe that. Half-finished projects that taught you something were worth starting. Projects you kept going on out of stubbornness when you’d clearly lost interest were probably a waste of time.
What matters is being honest about which category you’re in.
This site is a side project. It’ll either become something I actually use or join the graveyard. I’ve got maybe three months before I know which.