Project

Ship my side project

You have an idea, maybe twenty. A folder with three half-started codebases, and a domain name bought one evening. Nothing has shipped. This time, you'd like to go all the way.

Start this project

Building before knowing who for

You open the editor before writing one sentence about what it does and for whom. So you add and polish, and nothing ships.

You're also afraid to show it: while nobody has seen it, it can still be perfect. Putting it in front of ten people means accepting its flaws.

Decide what you ship first: one person, and what they'll be able to do from the first version. Then ship that, and nothing else.

An example of the path

Here's what this project can look like once it's broken down. Yours starts from your answers, beginning with what you already have and what's holding you back. It will come out different, and that's on purpose.

  1. Milestone 1

    Decide what I ship first

    • Write in one sentence what the project does, for whom, and what they can do from the first versionDone
    • List everything I had planned, and cross out everything that isn't in that sentence
    • Find three people who have this need, and tell them it's coming
    • Give myself a release date, even a rough one
  2. Milestone 2

    Build the minimal version

    The bare minimum for the sentence to be true. Ugly is fine.

    ≈ 8 steps planned, detailed when you get there
  3. Milestone 3

    Put it in front of ten people

    The first three, then seven more. Watch what they do, not what they say.

    ≈ 5 steps planned, detailed when you get there
  4. Milestone 4

    Ship publicly

    A page and a message, posted in three places. Launch day is a day like any other.

    ≈ 6 steps planned, detailed when you get there
  5. Milestone 5

    Keep it alive

    Fix what the feedback shows, one small improvement a week. Or decide to stop, cleanly.

    ≈ 4 steps planned, detailed when you get there

Your first step, tonight

Write in one sentence what the project does, for whom, and what they can do from the first version

If the sentence doesn't fit on one line, the project is still too big. Give it twenty minutes.

How the path adapts to you

You say all of this in the opening questions, and you can change it later.

  • Already have code running? Put it under "What you already have": the second milestone starts from what exists.
  • Only have weekends? "In big blocks" gives longer steps, paced to match.
  • Past projects never took off? Write it under "What blocks or worries you": what blocks becomes a step of its own.

Your project has waited long enough.
Name your goal. It starts here.

In a few minutes, you'll know exactly where to start. The first step takes less time than thinking about it again.

Start this project
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