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Friday, January 14, 2005

Lots Of Ideas But Not Enough Time

by Asim Jalis

Here are some more thoughts on how to get things done, when it is easier to come up with ideas than to implement them: 1. To accomplish projects you must finish them quickly. So write them in scripting languages like Perl, Bash, Python, or PHP. Do not write them in C/C++ or Java. Remember that the project is going to lose its charm quickly. A Perl hack is more likely to get done than a C/C++ implementation. Delphi and VB might be other candidates to consider. 2. Avoid test-first. Release your spike solution with some manual acceptance testing. Write tests later if the experimental idea turns out to be a winner. 3. It takes less work to release open source applications than to release commercial applications. Release lots of tiny open source projects. The money will come later. Your goal is to get ideas out there, not necessarily to make money. 4. Release quickly. Find models for publishing and releasing quickly. Keep the bar for publication really low. Don't wait for things to get perfect. If you wait you will lose interest. So publish it NOW. 5. Give up the fear that people will steal your ideas. Realize that this is the best thing that could happen to the ideas. If someone steals and implements an idea, then the idea has finally produced real value. Eventually they might hire you to come up with more ideas. Give away ideas generously -- know that you will have more and that you will never run out of ideas. Don't worry about not getting credit, and don't let that prevent you from publishing and sharing ideas.