Dear new developer,
For me, there comes a point at the end of every project where I’m just sick of it. I’m sick of the project. I’m sick of the technology. I’m sick of project management system. I’m sick of the code.
Sometimes, I just want to see the whole thing burn. Or better, just ship it.
Now, I think that there are two solutions to this problem, and which one you pick depends on your timeline. The first is to take a step back. Talk to a team mate. Work on something else. Talk a walk. Take an extra half hour for lunch.
This may give you perspective to help you dive back in and add just a bit more polish. That polish, which may take the form of additional UX refinement, testing, or even wordsmithing the help messages or marketing text, can help make the project shine.
That’s what I call ‘running through the finish line’ where you want to leave it all on the field. That doesn’t mean you don’t make compromises or that you won’t revisit decisions, but it does mean that you do the best you can. Sometimes to put in that final effort, you need to take a break.
The other choice is to just ship it. This is a good option when you are up against a deadline. It also helps if you know you are a perfectionist and/or afraid of putting your work out there. Nothing is perfect and if your work never sees the light of day because you can’t accept that, the world is losign out. Finally, it can help if you take that time off, acquire that perspective and know that you’re done with this phase of the work.
I just published a book. It was released on Aug 16. I’m very proud of it, but there were times when I was just plain sick of it. I ended up taking some time away from it and that helped me make sure it was the best book it could be.
When you are working through the final bits of a project, sit back and get that perspective. And then, ship it!
Dan
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