Building for Yourself

Lately, it has been difficult for me to find new ideas. I kept losing interest and motivation to work on side projects.

Luckily, I recently stumbled over this post titled I Am The Only User. It talks about telling yourself that you are the only user of your project.

The goal is to reduce the problem space to a manageable size by not trying to please others. It should help reduce the cognitive load and make it possible to focus on what's important.

When working on side projects, it appears to improve the author's productivity.

So, I gave it a try. And I must say, thinking of me as the only user makes a difference.

I always think of too many features, losing sight of my original goal. At the same time, I'm losing interest in continuing when thinking of adding those features.

Thinking - and knowing - that I am my only user helps me ignore those thoughts.

Whether it's a mere side project or a possible MVP, the priority should be to finish it. More features and polishing can follow.

To achieve this, I'll be my only user from now on and build for myself.