How to get people to work on your project (2007)
somethingsimilar.com
somethingsimilar.com
> Write good code. Go back over older code and rewrite it. Then come back later and rewrite it again. Make it better.
IMO, just making it work initially is what matters the most. Ship it, get the bug reports, and fix the kinks. While fixing the kinks, maybe refactor a bit here and there. Some could say, yeah but refactoring makes it easier for others to work on the code with you. My response to that is, yes... but this is a chicken, egg problem. You can write the prettiest code in the world where even a toddler can start hopping on and writing code. But, none of that matters if you never ship, pick up some momentum, and actually have people who want to work on the project with you.
Besides, while shipping a working version is crucial, it's perfectly possible to plan ahead and refactor early if you're confident that getting to a working version won't be a problem.
You then need to balance Z with rewriting A to B. The workaround to that is to rewrite A to B while implementing Z but the caveat; is there a time-frame to where Z must be implemented? Because if you implement Z ahead of refactoring A to B you now got to rewrite A to B while not breaking Z while letting Z grow because they want feature Y. Not forgetting you need to recode Z because the old code is old code.
Getting the code to work as intended is obviously key - who wants to contribute to a project that doesn't even work? - but my personal view (with no data to support it) is that people are more likely to contribute if they think they can add something to the project, and the speed of being able to come to terms with the project's code base forms a good part of their calculations on how/where to spend (waste?) their spare time.
... Not that it's worked for my project. But then I'm also a poet and my need to make things look pretty on a page sometimes overtakes my need to make sure the code works. All poets know how to "Fail with motherfucking gusto"; we also know how to look stylish while doing it!
I'm doing a startup idea with a semi-technical guy I knew from high school. Most of that time that last statement would be a red flag -- most of the time you want technical co-founders -- but this guy has already invested tens of thousands of dollars of his own money building out a product, and already has interested clients.
I'm not going to invest my time if the other party isn't invested and expects me to do all their work for them. If they're working their ass off to make it happen, though, I just might join them.
I can't tell if it's a subconscious fear of failure or just general laziness but I can't even write the first line of code and it's been 3 years since I got the idea.
But more accurately, I find I'm anxious because I have grand ideas of what I want to accomplish, but when I try to do it my ability falls short of my ideals.
The only way to get better though is to just do stuff. So what helps me is giving myself permission to make mistakes and do mediocre work. The next iteration will be better, but for now I just need to make SOMETHING.
Here's what you need to do: ask yourself "what's the smallest thing I can do right now?" Do that thing. Then rinse and repeat.
Such things can help immensely with vague laziness. Don't overthink it, there is no magic quick fix and it's not just about this one weird self help trick to fix your mindset. We tend to forget how much we are biological animals on the inside and the animal needs to be kept well.
Start with waking up at the same time and winding down in the evening early enough to sleep enough. It's much easier to get a grip on such concrete things as waking up at a particular time (or not eating added sugar) vs starting the big vague project, staring at the empty console. Once your routine is set up you will find you have more willingness to face and take on difficult tasks of many sorts.
Once I started getting up early at the same time every day, everything else flowed from that positive momentum. I get up meditate, eat, lift weights, then bike to work by 8. I, can crush work all day and I carry that positive momentum all the way till I go to sleep and accomplish many things after work. I have tamed that procrastinating distraction monkey on my back into a tenacious omnipresent will for self improvement.
Just do something stupid that goes in the right direction. Do it this weekend. You know you want to.
And between failure and success, I'm far more scared of success. Failure is demoralizing but at least it means you can put a pin in the thing. Success means people probably now have expectations of you.
If you can convince yourself of this, then what you have is really not worth anything unless you execute something on it.
If you send me an e-mail and tell me your idea, I'll write the first line of code for you for free to get you started! :)
1. Make a project
2. Work super hard at it but not to the point of exhaustion (stay optimal/healthy)
3. If you aren't already, become a good programmer yourself (you really need this, if I'm reading the author correctly)
4. Test your code
5. Be capable of dealing with anger, frustration and joy
6. Your biggest issue isn't time, it's your motivation
7. Dare to fail
So basically: build a project and talk to people. He writes about it epic/coach-like way (e.g. "Fail hard. Fail with motherfucking gusto. Succeeding, like flying, is throwing yourself to the ground and missing.").
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I might need to become good at getting people to work on my project, as I might need to split my codebase in 2 and I would like your input on how to go about it [1].
[1, Ask HN: Diverging products: fork codebase, create config file or other option?] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23562286
“ Succeeding, like flying, is throwing yourself to the ground and missing.”
Cool article and definitely as someone else mentioned, very similar to a locker room pep talk.
I would summarize it as: work hard and frequently, test and refactor, embrace failure. Don't give up.
I guess we'd be looking for "something similar" these days. Sad that there is so little competition in that space now (all github)...