Chasing and sorting project ideas
So many ideas, so little time.
It can be easy to come up with a project idea, it's something else to bring it to completion. I have several things always bothering me at the back of my mind, and it's easy to always kick that can forward thinking that I'll look into it some other day.
Something I've taken to doing is to try and build a demo on each interesting concept. Without too much effort, this can reveal quite a bit! One idea that I initially had a good feeling about ended up being cast away after only two days as I quickly realized it would be too unreliable a service. Another would have been interesting, but the data I needed wasn't really available. A third definitely seemed possible, but I caught on to the fact that I would be miserable working on it, and life is too short for that.
Some of these demos I completed, then set aside as I had no direct plans for them. Others were saved for later, as potential components of something larger. A few have landed on my public GitHub account, waiting to be discovered and built upon by someone else.
And a precious few seemed to hit both the “possible” and “fun” factors. These can be saved to be revisited later: either it can stand on its own, or become a part of something larger. It's also entirely possible that what sounded like a good idea at first isn't so attractive later on – that's okay too!
My main point? If you think something sounds interesting, consider trying it. You don't have to get overly attached to it, or invest a lot of energy into it. Messing around with a project, an activity or even a game can give you a better picture than just thinking about it again and again. An hour, a day, a week maybe? And if it doesn't keep your attention after all, that's okay – now you know, instead of having it constantly bugging you.
– Doctacosa