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Why I want to start from scratch when coding took lots of time?

I'm working on a project but now I don't want to write a line of code anymore because it took longer than usual. It happened also on my previous projects. Now I just want to remove everything and start from scratch. But it costs a lot of time. (I did same thing on my previous projects too)

Give me advices, please ☹️ I'm bored.

  1. 3

    I had the same issue with the multiple projects I did. I wrote codebase to some level and then abandoned it for various reasons. Most often I just didn't want to continue to invest time in it. My belief is that the reason for this is when you don't believe in your idea that much and don't have any positive reinforcement.

    Things that are helping me now:
    – I want to desperately use my current product myself every day.
    – Deploy it early. I built it to the working point and despite it is still shitty and customers will run away from it, my friends and I are trying to use it and make fun of weird bugs it has :)
    – Try to sign up for some group/some tournament (like pioneer.app) that will give you a clear goal. Or set some weekly goal and keep yourself accountable. Small steps add up.
    – Split work into steps that you can complete in 2 hours. 2 hours is possible to find almost every day, so you'll have continuous progress.

    The most important thing, unless it is your full-time project, slips will happen, you'll be tired, you'll be burned and that's all right. As long as you come back to your project you're fine :) Don't give up.

  2. 2

    I'd like to make 2 suggestions:

    1. Get paying customers for your app immediately. Having actual users, especially paying customers, shifts your focus to meeting you users needs, not your app's. Once your app is deployed, you may discover that your customers are using your app in ways you never intended or imagined. You may even find that what you think your app needs is completely removed from what your customers need from your app. They may not even care about what you think! Let your customers' needs drive your priorities for coding. The fact that you say you're "bored" suggests you're still writing code to satisfy yourself, not paying customers yet. Am I right? 😀

    2. Stop thinking of your app as a tangible, finished product. Today, all software is a work-in-progress. There is no finish line. You will never run out of things that need refactoring, upgrading or mproving ( see #1 above). So you should stop thinking in terms of large milestones or even complete rewrites. Think instead in terms of small, incremental, daily improvements and sprints. If you already have paying customers for your app (again, see #1 above), your focus will be on keeping your app running. You can do that and keep improving your app if you deploy small, non-disruptive changes. You can't do that with huge, radical changes to your code (like a complete re-write) because you have to take your app offline. Paying customers may not appreciate that. You also risk making changes that are too radical that your customers may not be comfortable with and they may throw a fit. Dealing with angry customers is not something you should be asking for! Avoid that risk as much as possible! 😉

    Good luck!

    1. 1

      Thanks a lot. You're right.

  3. 2

    I don't quite follow? What is wrong with the code you have now?

    1. 2

      Just need to change something (for example need to change db structure on 1-2 tables)

      1. 2

        If it's minor and you absolutely need to do it, then go for it and just make sure you don't make a habit of unnecessary refactoring. With my projects I usually have so much to do that I don't really have a choice, but I do find myself sometimes being inefficient with my prioritization. Ultimately customers are going to be your best driver of priority. I would focus on getting more of them before you worry about refactoring.

        As engineers we will always want to be perfectionists, but in the beginning that is a luxury we don't have.

  4. 1

    I totally get this - it happens to me too but you have to push through. You get bored of the small and tedious tasks but think of it this way. 1% progress per day is better than no progress, and boy does it accumulate.

  5. 0

    Even if you have a low budget you can rent dedicated coders from www.designpac.net at really cheap price.

  6. -1

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