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Honestly, my GitHub has far more abandoned projects than finished ones.
habit-tracker-v2, my-blog-v3, productivity-app, korean-vocab-flashcard... Each with 3-15 commits. Projects that blazed to life on some energetic weekend, then got stuck in "I'll come back to this someday" purgatory two weeks later.
Then I actually finished a side project for the first time. It was a small, simple tool. But the first time I deployed it and saw someone else actually use it, something felt completely different.
I went back and asked what was different that time. This post is that answer.
The biggest reason side projects die is the gap between your initial excitement and the actual work.
When the idea strikes, you see:
When you actually build it, you encounter:
The wider the gap between the idealized vision and the reality of the work, the faster motivation burns out.
Idea → 3 days debating tech stack → 1 week designing architecture →
Optimizing DB schema → Refactoring component structure →
...interest has died
"I'll make a todo app" → "It needs categories" → "Recurring tasks" →
"Calendar view" → "Team collaboration" → "Notifications" →
[abandoned]
Features complete → "But this is still missing" → Build more →
"I'd be embarrassed without this" → Can't ship →
Interest gone → Abandoned
"Let me try the new hotness" → 2 weeks learning a framework →
1 week fighting bugs → No real progress → Motivation gone
MVP (Minimum Viable Product) is often misunderstood as "the bare minimum."
The correct definition:"The simplest version that actually solves one core problem in a way a real person can use."
When an idea hits, answer these questions:
1. The core problem this app solves in one sentence:
"Helps people who struggle with ___ to ___ more easily"
2. How are people solving this without my app right now?
→ If mine is 10% better, that's enough
3. If you could only keep one feature?
→ That's your MVP
4. Would someone use it with just that?
→ If YES, start
v1.0 feature list:
- User auth (3 social logins)
- Todo CRUD
- Category tags
- Priority sorting
- Date/time scheduling
- Recurring tasks
- Notifications
- Collaboration/sharing
- Mobile app
- Dark mode
v0.1 (shippable today):
- Save todos to localStorage, check them off
- That's it
v0.2 (if I keep using it):
- Simple categories
v1.0 (if real users want it):
- Cloud sync
Every time a new idea surfaces, implement it and you'll never finish. Instead, maintain a "later features" list.
# my-app TODO
## MVP (do now)
- [x] Basic layout
- [ ] Add todo
- [ ] Check off todo
- [ ] Local save
## Backlog (after MVP ships)
- Categories
- Search
- Sorting
- Stats
## Maybe Someday
- Mobile app
- Collaboration
- AI suggestions
When "I NEED this!" hits you, put it in backlog. Finish what's already there first.
When a new idea surfaces, wait 72 hours. If you still think "I really need this" three days later, add it to backlog. If it was just an impulse, 72 hours will dissolve it.
1. Without this feature, does the MVP not function at all?
2. Have my first 10 actual users explicitly asked for this?
3. Does building it take more than a day?
All NO → Don't build it now
1 is YES → Build it now
2 is YES → Add to backlog
The urge to use new tech is natural. But if you want to finish a side project, sometimes you need to suppress it.
New technology brings:
Known technology brings:
❌ "Let me try Rust + WASM for this side project"
(low completion probability)
✅ "Ship with Next.js + TypeScript in two weeks"
(known stack, focus on shipping)
Exception: When learning the technology IS the goal. Set "understanding this tech" as the objective and lower your expectations around shipping. The goal isn't "deploy," it's "understand."
Can I ship with a stack I already know in two weeks?
├── YES → Use that stack
└── NO → Why not?
├── Stack is the problem → Pick from what you know
└── Two weeks is too short → Cut scope further
It's easy to procrastinate alone. Announcing it publicly changes things.
"Shipping [project name] MVP by next week.
Features: [exactly 3]
Will post weekly updates"
Personally, the weekly tweet format worked best for me. You need actual progress to write even one tweet, so it pushes you to do at least something each week.
Staring only at the big goal ("finish the app") makes the middle boring. Set small milestones and genuinely treat each completion as a win.
## Development Milestones
### Week 1
- [ ] Create repo, deploy Hello World
- [ ] Basic layout complete
- [ ] Data model designed
### Week 2
- [ ] Core feature 1 working
- [ ] Core feature 2 working
### Week 3
- [ ] Basic UI complete
- [ ] Deployed (Vercel/Railway)
### Post-launch
- [ ] Share link with first 5 people
- [ ] First real user feedback received
"Create repo and deploy Hello World" counts as a milestone. Once a real URL exists, things feel real.
Many side projects stall on "it's not done yet." But shipping generates real feedback, and that feedback fuels the next round of development.
"If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late." — Reid Hoffman
An embarrassing v1 that exists is 100x better than a perfect version that never ships.
Defining what "done" means for your side project matters.
Set a minimum bar for shipping:
Shipping checklist:
- [ ] One core feature actually works
- [ ] No critical bugs (visible errors)
- [ ] README has usage instructions
- [ ] I've used it myself and found it useful
→ All four checked? Ship it.
An honest comparison.
An ugly version with an actual URL:
Not every side project needs to be finished. Sometimes letting go is the right call.
"Quitting ≠ failure." Better to quit quickly and focus on the right project than to grind on the wrong one indefinitely.
Reading this and closing the tab changes nothing. Try this now.
1. Pick exactly one side project you want to build (5 min)
2. Define the core feature in one sentence: "A tool that ___" (5 min)
3. List the MVP features — maximum 3 (10 min)
4. Set a ship date: two weeks from today (1 min)
5. Create the repo (9 min)
If you've done step 5, you've started.
20 minutes every Friday:
- What did I build this week? (5 min recap)
- What will I build next week? (exactly 3 things)
- Post a progress update somewhere (5 min)
When blocked:
1. 30-minute timer → try to solve it alone
2. If not solved → ask StackOverflow/Claude/GPT
3. Still stuck → can the app work without this feature?
YES → skip it, do something else first
NO → is there a simpler approach?
Finishing a side project is a skill separate from being a good developer.
These skills grow with practice. The more small projects you finish, the easier the next one becomes.
Build it now. Fix it later.