
How to get people to work on your project (2007) - saadalem
https://www.somethingsimilar.com/2007/08/06/how-to-get-your-project-moving-or-my-ego-is-massive-and-you-should-listen-to-me./
======
mkchoi212
This is gold. While I agree with most things the author mentions, I'm kinda
meh on this statement.

> Write good code. Go back over older code and rewrite it. Then come back
> later and rewrite it again. Make it better.

IMO, just making it work initially is what matters the most. Ship it, get the
bug reports, and fix the kinks. While fixing the kinks, maybe refactor a bit
here and there. Some could say, yeah but refactoring makes it easier for
others to work on the code with you. My response to that is, yes... but this
is a chicken, egg problem. You can write the prettiest code in the world where
even a toddler can start hopping on and writing code. But, none of that
matters if you never ship, pick up some momentum, and actually have people who
want to work on the project with you.

~~~
Kinrany
I'm not sure I understand the part about momentum. What's preventing you from
rewriting code once it has been shipped?

Besides, while shipping a working version is crucial, it's perfectly possible
to plan ahead and refactor early if you're confident that getting to a working
version won't be a problem.

~~~
doublerabbit
I see it as: If you've already shipped A, your user-base are using A. Your
user-base are now requesting feature Z

You then need to balance Z with rewriting A to B. The workaround to that is to
rewrite A to B while implementing Z but the caveat; is there a time-frame to
where Z must be implemented? Because if you implement Z ahead of refactoring A
to B you now got to rewrite A to B while not breaking Z while letting Z grow
because they want feature Y. Not forgetting you need to recode Z because the
old code is old code.

------
asdfman123
The "actually working on it" part is key.

I'm doing a startup idea with a semi-technical guy I knew from high school.
Most of that time that last statement would be a red flag -- most of the time
you want technical co-founders -- but this guy has already invested tens of
thousands of dollars of his own money building out a product, and already has
interested clients.

I'm not going to invest my time if the other party isn't invested and expects
me to do all their work for them. If they're working their ass off to make it
happen, though, I just might join them.

~~~
keanebean86
"actually working on it" hurts so much. I have an idea. I think it will be
amazing. I love thinking about it and talking to others about it. Yet every
night I watch tv, play games, or anything else except working on the idea.

I can't tell if it's a subconscious fear of failure or just general laziness
but I can't even write the first line of code and it's been 3 years since I
got the idea.

~~~
bonoboTP
For general laziness, in the order of importance: fix sleep (consistent wake
up time), exercise, diet (cut out sugar and junk food like potato chips and
ice cream, soda etc), vitamin D, blood tests, regulate stress, keep track of
coffee, meditate, reduce alcohol, take breaks from social media, porn,
addictive games, binge watching etc. Read physical books. Go out in nature
without phones.

Such things can help immensely with vague laziness. Don't overthink it, there
is no magic quick fix and it's not just about this one weird self help trick
to fix your mindset. We tend to forget how much we are biological animals on
the inside and the animal needs to be kept well.

Start with waking up at the same time and winding down in the evening early
enough to sleep enough. It's much easier to get a grip on such concrete things
as waking up at a particular time (or not eating added sugar) vs starting the
big vague project, staring at the empty console. Once your routine is set up
you will find you have more willingness to face and take on difficult tasks of
many sorts.

~~~
gnarbarian
I cannot stress this advice enough. I have ADHD so a healthy routine seemed
like anathema to me and it felt like my entire soul would resist it at every
turn.

Once I started getting up early at the same time every day, everything else
flowed from that positive momentum. I get up meditate, eat, lift weights, then
bike to work by 8. I, can crush work all day and I carry that positive
momentum all the way till I go to sleep and accomplish many things after work.
I have tamed that procrastinating distraction monkey on my back into a
tenacious omnipresent will for self improvement.

------
mettamage
Summary:

1\. Make a project

2\. Work super hard at it but not to the point of exhaustion (stay
optimal/healthy)

3\. If you aren't already, become a good programmer yourself (you really need
this, if I'm reading the author correctly)

4\. Test your code

5\. Be capable of dealing with anger, frustration and joy

6\. Your biggest issue isn't time, it's your motivation

7\. Dare to fail

So basically: build a project and talk to people. He writes about it
epic/coach-like way (e.g. "Fail hard. Fail with motherfucking gusto.
Succeeding, like flying, is throwing yourself to the ground and missing.").

\---

I might need to become good at getting people to work on my project, as I
might need to split my codebase in 2 and I would like your input on how to go
about it [1].

[1, Ask HN: Diverging products: fork codebase, create config file or other
option?]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23562286](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23562286)

------
technoplato
I love this quote at the end:

“ Succeeding, like flying, is throwing yourself to the ground and missing.”

Cool article and definitely as someone else mentioned, very similar to a
locker room pep talk.

~~~
KraftyOne
You probably already know this, but the line is paraphrased from The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is an amazing book if you like that
style of humor.

------
TravHatesMe
This sounds like a coach's locker room speech, with a tad too much vulgarity
for my taste.

I would summarize it as: work hard and frequently, test and refactor, embrace
failure. Don't give up.

------
makach
Pay them? It's complicated. Sometimes you just don't want anyone or someone
but a special one.

------
bjarneh
> Put it up on Google Code, Rubyforge or something similar. Haunt the IRC
> channels..

I guess we'd be looking for "something similar" these days. Sad that there is
so little competition in that space now (all github)...

~~~
RMPR
Gitlab? Source Hut?

------
ashafer
Zefrank's video on brain crack really summarizes the core idea of this
article.

