When you first start working on a project, it seems really exciting and you have a sudden burst of motivation. But, over time this motivation fades, and you start to wonder if it is even worth continuing.
Sound familiar?
To be honest, I have fallen victim to this many times and have numerous projects lying around that haven't been completed... It looks a bit like this:
If you don't have a clear plan on how to complete a project, chances are you won't get it done. So, let's go back to the drawing board! Here are a few tips that I think could help:
🎯 1. Set a MVP
MVP = Minimum viable product
Basically you want to build your product to the stage at which it is sufficient to use, no more, no less. Once you've written down the requirements that your MVP should fulfill, stick to them.
This means that you may need to stop yourself from adding a cool feature, as it may take very long to implement and might not be 100% necessary. Remember, you can always add new features later!
Now that you have your MVP in mind, what's the next step?
📝 2. Assign yourself tasks
Every day that you are working on your project, you should have a clear idea of what you want to work on. The best way to do this is to assign tasks to yourself, either in a todo list (like TickTick), or a project management system (like Trello). This will make it easier for you to get straight into starting your work, and more importantly will help you to stay focused.
But how do I figure out which tasks I need to do?
🕒 3. Use the 80/20 principle
This is also known as the Pareto principle. First, what on earth is this fancy principle and what does it mean for you? To put it simply:
The first 20% of your time and effort brings in 80% of the results
Generally, this applies to a lot of areas, and working on projects is no exception. So, how do we use this principle?
Well, you should identify those 20% of tasks that will complete 80% of your project - in other words: the most valuable tasks - and focus on these. Once you've figured out these high priority tasks, finish them first before moving on to the smaller ones.
For example:
- High priority - coding the main skeleton and layout of a website
- Low priority - changing the font, adding images and colours
🚀 4. Make a start
Now that you've read all of these tips, you should be armed with the knowledge that you need to complete an unfinished project. For me, that's an old app that I really wanted to release. For you, that could be an old website or anything really! Get started now, and good luck! 😄
Thanks for reading till the end, I really hope it helped you out. Feel free to leave your tips in the comments below, to help out more people! I'm still new to this blogging stuff, but will try and improve every week. Any feedback is appreciated :)
⬇️ More about me ⬇️
🤩 Hi, I'm Imaad
Nice to meet you!
I'm a full-stack developer/full-time student based in the UK. Although I'm familiar with app and web development, I'm constantly adapting to learn new technologies. Most importantly, I enjoy creating cool projects!
This blog will follow my journey as a developer and include things that I hope provide value. Hope to see you around!
🤝 Connect with Me
🗂 My Projects
- 🟣 GitHub