Successful Side Projects

Darren Torpey's Notes:

• It helps to have someone or someones you care about who expect you to finish
  • Even mild, self-imposed social pressure can be very motivating!
• Time-box the project so that you're encouraged to push on towards finishing before the project looses steam
• Working in teams is great, but keep the team as small as possible
• Also keep the project as short as possible
• Problems with large teams and long projects
  • It's easy for team members to loose interest in a project.
  • The more people in the project, the more likely it is that someone will lose interest, thus harming the project greatly.
  • The longer the project, the more likely it is that someone will lose interest, including you!
  • So schedule and scale your project so that it will not overstay it's welcome, so to say.
• Focus on activities that are not what you do at work!