So I’ve been working on a project recently. I really enjoy programming. It’s weirdly relaxing for me. I can get in a zone with something that’s comfortable to me and it has this great sense of accomplishment.
With the bot I made I was deploying using ephemeral servers (they get destroyed at every deploy), which makes looking at logs really hard. But log management tools are extremely complicated and expensive. I tried setting up Logtail and gave up after several hours. It just wasn’t worth the hassle. But I still wanted to aggregate logs, so I decided to just build one because why not.
I’ve taken a very different attitude with this project than any other project like this that I’ve done. Am I building a product of the best quality I can? Yes I am. Am I going to offer it as a commercial service? Yes I am. Do I have any goals around revenue, customers, or release dates? None at all.
It was initially just a byproduct of being in pilot training, but it solidified a couple of weeks ago when I was getting to the commercial parts of the product. I had finished the basic functionality and started using it for my logs, and was about to start on things like billing, advanced account management, etc. And I started trying to set goals and timelines. Which, because I was now getting ready for a move, a baby, a house remodel, and a million other things, immediately overwhelmed me.
So I asked my wife if I should do it or not. We decided I should because I love writing software, I love running businesses, and the potential revenue can at least pay for my personal servers. But it doesn’t need to be agressive. I don’t need to work 20-hour days to get it done. I can just build it when I have time. I can hire people to support and develop slowly. I can still enjoy it even as I make something. Plus, by embracing that constraint I can use more creativity to make it better with less.
Stop overdoing it. Stop demanding more than you can give. Just relax, do your best, and make something good happen.