I built delicious while working a fairly grueling day job.
- I had a deck of index cards and a binder clip. Have an idea, write it down.
- I'd sit down and try to do just one thing. Look through the cards, find something easy. Even a little thing. After that it was okay to go to bed.
- Keep the code chunks small. Make it easy to page in all the state for working on that bit of code. Everything but the file that actually rendered a single bookmark fit on a single screen.
- Understand that some days you just won't get anything done. Go with it.
- Get something out there. Feedback is incredibly motivating.
- Relentlessly cut things back. What's the minimal amount you have to do. What can you remove? What can you get rid of? What's the minimal design that has conceptual integrity? If it's not necessary, get rid of it. I find that lopping off chunks of the ideas mean that other parts of the code and interactions with other parts of the system become less and less complicated.
- Don't start working on something until it's reasonably complete in your head. It's ok to doodle in code, but don't spend hours building something that is conceptually fragmentary. Sometimes I think about an idea for months. There are ideas I came up with 5+ years ago that I'm still noodling on.
- Keep an idea log. If you aren't working you aren't generating real ideas.
- Be ready to abandon an idea for another one if you find yourself thinking about it more.
- I had a deck of index cards and a binder clip. Have an idea, write it down.
- I'd sit down and try to do just one thing. Look through the cards, find something easy. Even a little thing. After that it was okay to go to bed.
- Keep the code chunks small. Make it easy to page in all the state for working on that bit of code. Everything but the file that actually rendered a single bookmark fit on a single screen.
- Understand that some days you just won't get anything done. Go with it.
- Get something out there. Feedback is incredibly motivating.
- Relentlessly cut things back. What's the minimal amount you have to do. What can you remove? What can you get rid of? What's the minimal design that has conceptual integrity? If it's not necessary, get rid of it. I find that lopping off chunks of the ideas mean that other parts of the code and interactions with other parts of the system become less and less complicated.
- Don't start working on something until it's reasonably complete in your head. It's ok to doodle in code, but don't spend hours building something that is conceptually fragmentary. Sometimes I think about an idea for months. There are ideas I came up with 5+ years ago that I'm still noodling on.
- Keep an idea log. If you aren't working you aren't generating real ideas.
- Be ready to abandon an idea for another one if you find yourself thinking about it more.