I have found that for hobby projects (I haven’t tested it with clients) that if I set myself a completion date then I will focus on the most important parts of the project. I was no longer wasting hours on UI tweaks. I began accepting features when they were functional and solved the problem.
Times Roman Text
When I first began building the website, I wanted everything to look beautiful. I still do. However, I only had one week to get it done. Therefore, I was happy building out the blogging system and the site with Times Roman and basic forms. Adding tailwind early on helps with the eye sores. It was honestly refreshing building a shabby website, it reminded me of university. It reminded me of the internet from the dark ages. It allowed me to build fast as well.
Not skimping on quality
Building fast is not about skimping on quality. It is about being hyper focused on the most critical paths. Take a look at my form I use to upload my blog posts.
Blog post editor
It does not sparkle, but what it does is allow me to upload a blog post. Nobody else is going to see it, nobody else needs to see it. In the past I would have thought “oh, it needs to be beautiful, in case I develop this for someone else”. However, the goal of this project was to create a website for myself. 1 user and that user is me. Delivering a solution that makes me happy. I write my blog posts in word first, so this screen is only going to be used for copy and paste.
There are many nice to have features that just haven’t made it yet. Sure, I could use “handles” for my blog posts, but for now, have the id in the URL is okay. It’s not great, but it is not necessary. Do I really need a hamburger menu? No, I don’t, not right now. These are things I that I can add later (which probably means never – it will happen if I have time and want to).
Set yourself a date
Set yourself a date. Give yourself a tight timeframe (a reasonable timeframe) and see how focused you become. It enforces discipline, which is crucial. Don’t skimp on the quality.
You will finish projects
There are more projects that I have abandoned than completed. It’s true. I can admit to that. With this new mindset, I’ve finished this blogging website in a week. I’ve spent “months” on a website before and never finished it. There was always more to add or figuring out how to tweak/add component libraries that would bloat my website and prevent me from keeping the entire project in my mind.
