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I like the way Jordi Brun approaches scoping/deciding when to continue or abandon personal projects:

- 2 hours for a PoC

- 2 days for a prototype you can share

- 2 weeks for something actually useful

I put together some notes on the subject here: https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/2-2-2-project-scoping-techn...




Those deadlines are way to short except for really small projects little like a single static web page. Or the guy is a x100 developer.


100% agree. This is fine if you're experimenting with product discovery or small projects.

> Or the guy is a x100 developer.

Haha, I've had 0.1x developer* as my bio on the cringe blue site™ for the past decade or so. I just want to make toys.

* inspired by a post by this post by Benji Weber: https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2016/01/25/why-i-strive-to-be-...


That's written by an oddly highly motivated individual.

It often takes me 2 hours to focus and stop daydreaming.

Perhaps that's a good signal that I'm not a natural "builder" and I should take the hint.


> That's written by an oddly highly motivated individual.

On the contrary. Sometimes I struggle with attention or get hyperfocussed on a specific problem, so I use these to keep myself in check. I fail most of the time, still, just a little bit less often.


Nonsense, a lot of genius builders needed months to just begin one project. And some of them needed decades to even finish the thing.

Don't let yourself be chained by artificial frameworks that were arbitrarily formulated by someone who feels everything should be on schedule.


> Don't let yourself be chained by artificial frameworks that were arbitrarily formulated by someone who feels everything should be on schedule.

Can't agree more. Just please, please consider the context of this site when reading:

https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/this-is-not-writing-or-prod...

The only advice that really works for me is this: https://untested.sonnet.io/notes/share-your-unfinished-scrap...

- happy 0.1x developer


Or a visionary.


I can't edit, so will post here: please read the note before commenting (it's short), a lot of context is missing in this quick comment.

Apologies, I should've put this phrase in more context. I agree with most of the comments, even the snarky ones, but I didn't express what I meant well enough.


Lmao. HN people don't want to grind for years to solve tough problems. They want to find some 'hack' or side-trick to bypass everything. But the reality is some problems take a long time to solve. How long do you think Bitcoin took to write? It wasn't 2 weeks.


Ok, pal, before you continue gangbanging me, please read the note!


Sorry, it wasn't my intention to make you feel harassed. Your advice probably makes a lot of sense for people who like to release many smaller products. Scope creep and extreme complexity are problems I've struggled with myself, and I often find it hard to start with the most basic deliverable rather than a vision that is much further along. I still have a lot to learn and I think these things are important problems for HN-type people.


Thanks, I appreciate that. As much as many people here didn't seem to have read the article or the note I linked, I should've phrased it differently so the context was apparent.




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