I have 2 primary side-projects, one that has become a popular open source project and another which is a personal tool.
For me, I commit myself to work on it every day except vacations. I use a kanban board for tracking work and just do things that feel natural. When I'm grinding out a big story, sometimes I switch and just focus on small bugfixes or random ideas to rebuild the motivation.
My other side project is much less worked on. But when I have a need in the software, I just focus on it for a week and document everything in Github issues. Usually the needs are quite complex and the fun of solving and getting a nice solution is fun enough to help drive me through.
I only work on things that I have a need for and I think that helps a lot with the mindset of finishing it off.
For me, a break due to a stressful period at work or long vacation is typically crushing my momentum, and I'm rarely able to continue working on the side project after. How do you deal with it?
For me, I commit myself to work on it every day except vacations. I use a kanban board for tracking work and just do things that feel natural. When I'm grinding out a big story, sometimes I switch and just focus on small bugfixes or random ideas to rebuild the motivation.
My other side project is much less worked on. But when I have a need in the software, I just focus on it for a week and document everything in Github issues. Usually the needs are quite complex and the fun of solving and getting a nice solution is fun enough to help drive me through.
I only work on things that I have a need for and I think that helps a lot with the mindset of finishing it off.