Ask HN: Should I finish this project? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Should I finish this project?

I'm getting close to finishing productiv.io but the project feels like it's lost steam.

There's a few things (automated emails, etc) that need finishing, should I spend more time on it or is my entire philosophy skewed?

EDIT: The signup link in the header works, if you want to try it our for yourself

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Your brain is reminding you "you've spent an awful lot of time on an idea that's yet to be validated" and it's getting nervous. You're interpreting that to mean - stop work, throw in the towel. What it actually means is that it's time to get feedback. Less coding, more conversations.

Motivation from the idea alone can only sustain you for so long.

Spend the next week or so working on it from the outside in. Iterate on the landing page, pricing page etc.

I was looking for an "About" or "Demo" page to maybe see a video or more indepth close up screenshots.

Once it's visually ready for visitors - with a clear message of EXACTLY what it does, start showing it to people. anyone, everyone, get your beta testers started.

Both good and bad feedback should light some excitement inside of you, to continue and fix any obstacles.

Use the feedback to decide whether to continue on with it. If you decide there are still issues that can't be overcome, at least you have a fully rounded, working project. If the feedback shows you're onto a winning idea, then comes the excitement of the full launch!

If it's almost done, finish it. Otherwise anticipate moving onto a new project and 6 months from now writing the same Ask HN post again as the excitement of the new project wears off and you find yourself dreading having to grind out that last 20%.

Don't use "lost steam" as an excuse for the fear of uncertainty as to what comes next after you launch. Good luck.

It's hard to tell when the only visible thing is the landing page and that gives almost no information on the product (one too-small-to-see screenshot).

I'm in the market for a new project management software at the moment so I'm interested, but I couldn't find anything on the page to let me know if it might be the thing I'm looking for.

EDIT: Speaking generally I always find that projects feel like they've run out of steam just at the last bit. Since you've already built the rest of it I say push forward and get it out there. Then even if it doesn't take off at least you can say you did it!

Truly agree to it. Quitters don't win and winners don't quit!

Yeah, sorry guys, that was a little rushed. Yes, the idea is to give a really simple, great looking interface to manage your projects at a single glance.

The basis of this is that it's broken down into 3 functions: tasks, real time messaging and file management.

The sign-up button in the header actually works so you can see for yourself, and any / all feedback is much appreciated.

Cheers!

Unfinished product has no value so finish it for 2 reasons

1. Probably you will get good number of users which might boost your motivation again.

2. If #1 does not happen then you can always sell this product to someone else(flippa.com) which will at least pay for the time you have spent on it rather than totally throwing it away.

Between your post and the site, the ONLY thing I know about it is that it's related to project management. I could maybe give more useful feedback if you gave more detail.

In general, if something is almost done - finish it. If nothing else, it gives you something to show off.

Finish it, even if you're a potential competitor of my product https://pragmatic.ly, :)

I enjoy building Pragmatic.ly and learning a lot from the process meanwhile. I believe you will too as long as you keep iterating.

I like your landing page. Especially the color scheme.

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