Ask HN: What do you do to get new ideas for projects?
I sometimes get into some sort of idea drought where I want to work on projects but just can't come up with anything I want to do.
Personally I never have this problem anymore. I have so many things to do, so many ideas to execute on.
All I did, have 'notes' on your phone that when you have an idea, any idea, you write it down. The dumber the idea the more important to write it down. For example here's 3 similar ideas that are too early. "Moon Moos" imagine kobe beef where they massage the cows and such making fattier beef. Imagine what low-gravity does. Similarly Copernicus Chickens and Bacon Planitia. The problem, I'm not a billionaire and quite incapable of doing that idea, maybe one idea it'll be possible.
For example, people complain they have too many tabs open. The worst solution is perhaps a tab manager. All the costs of keeping tabs open, in a new window, and often it replicates the history feature.
Ask why they have tabs open.
For some, it's because they need documentation open while they do work. The solution might be something that makes the documents and cheatsheets accessible with muscle memory, like Dash.
For some, it might be build times forcing them to multitask. Solution is something that notifies when the build is done. Also for these people, an anti-procrastination tool is more useful. Vice versa, someone might think they need an anti-procrastination tool, when they actually just need a lower cognitive load.
And so on.
Also most problems have been solved elsewhere. There are exceptions, like anti-gravity and FTL travel, which have absolutely no solutions. But if you want stronger structures and materials, you can look at honeycombs and spider webs. SimCity modeled traffic and unemployment similar to how Conway's Game of Life worked - a tile affected an adjacent tile and this led to some advanced looking simulations.
the execution state of mind is totally different it is going in autopilot vertical thinking where you would risk tunnel vision on details that might not matter.
if you don't want to risk being too creative, maybe ask why you want to work?, what kind of existing projects would you like to contribute to if possible? or remember a time where you didn't have ideas drought.
So, This is ho I get ideas for projects.just observe the world of man-made-built
You can’t force a good idea but you can create a space for it to occur in.
Be curious, wonder what could be better, notice what bugs you and fantasize about tools which could make your life easier.
Some ideas dissolve quickly, and some come back over and over again.
The ones that come back may be good candidates for projects - especially if mixed with enthusiasm.
Look for assumptions that might no longer hold. For example: traditional datastructures like B-trees assume hard-disk-based storage where random access times are slow. But what if we convert everything to flash SSDs or run things in RAM, does that open up a space for innovation (eg: storage systems based on log-structured merge trees and other more exotic datastructures)?
Try juxtaposing 2 things that are not normally considered to be related, and then combine them into a mashup.
Start with a small, simple prototype testing the core of your thesis, then iteratively improve it and scale it up. Don't try to boil the ocean, you'll just end up frustrated.
Separate need from want. If you really need something, that is incentive enough to try working and iterating on it. Merely wanting something is not enough.
Take your head for a walk, meaning dabble in other things and be attentive on possible user pain points
The best ones are where youre the one who is experiencing the problem itself
It helps if you have multidisciplinary itches.