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Project Duration Tolerance

dougw

There are lots of motives for doing projects, but lets focus on the satisfaction of completing a project.

Complex projects may yield more satisfaction, but they take longer to complete - when does that tradeoff become untenable?

What is your comfort zone for hobby project duration?

This is a strange poll for me to formulate because I get lots of project ideas, which I write down, and periodically push forward incrementally. It could take years to push all the way to completion and sometimes they never complete. The typical scenario is I get an idea and start thinking through the solution over a couple of weeks, then start collecting components over a few months, then I finally go into a frenzy of detailed design (PCBs) for a week, then I take another couple of months to get around to going into a 2 week frenzy of building and testing. This process doesn't fit well in the poll options above.

It seems like I go through a process where I start without much commitment and gradually build commitment until the scales tip and I fully commit. Most often I won't tackle a project where I cannot complete the detailed design in a week or two, but this would often be sufficient to create a microcontroller PCB with a full set of user interface peripherals and a sensor system plus some actuators all in a 3D printed housing. I find the 3-4 month design challenges on element14 to be just doable within my comfort zone. Project 14s are a little more comfortable.

Does your project duration tolerance correlate to your attention span?

  • dougw said:
    Other - explain in the comments what would motivate you to complete various project sizes

    Sometimes I either get fatigued, or I hit a problem that doesn't have a solution I can find online, or anyone to help with online, because it's something caused either by assumed knowledge (eg. a step in a guide I'm following that isn't stated) or I've managed to get to a point where the software libraries are out of sync and updated beyond supporting the original example code, or are no longer available.

    Python's pretty bad for this, and then suddenly needing to work with 'docker', or everything's in a 'docker' container and the amount of storage needed suddenly explodes, ends up being a sticking point.

    This's usually my 'untenable' point, because I'm then having to reverse engineer and re-write the libraries I'm using or write it from scratch to get to where I'm wanting to be, and that's usually a pre-setup step.

  • For me, if it takes more than about a month... my brain drifts to other things.  I tell myself I'll get back to it - but I rarely do.  It might become a "new" project - someday.

  • For me, project duration isn’t really a fixed time window, it’s more about structure and momentum.

    I’m comfortable with projects that span months, even longer, as long as they’re broken into concrete,
    meaningful milestones. What usually kills a project for me isn’t duration itself, but long stretches
    without visible progress or a clear next step.

    I tend to work in phases: exploration, design, implementation, and refinement. Some phases are
    intense and focused, others are quiet or paused while life happens. That doesn’t mean the project is
    dead, it’s just incubating.

    I’ve found that I’m most likely to finish a project when the core design and architecture can be nailed
    down in a relatively short burst. Once that’s solid, coming back to build and iterate feels natural,
    even if weeks or months have passed.

    So yes, there’s probably a correlation with attention span, but more with how attention is managed than
    how long it lasts.

    Give me clarity, ownership, and a sense of direction, and I’ll stay with a project far longer than any arbitrary time limit.

  • I think it is the other way around for me. If it isn't started within 6 months, then it will likely not get started as it will end up on the growing 'interesting projects' pile.

    Once started, then projects will tend to run for as long as they take to complete. Work tends to get in the way of a lot of stuff, so hopefully retirement will change that.

  • It depends upon the project and how much interest I have in making it happen.

    I get a lot of ideas, but then when I start documenting what needs to happen to make it a reality, it soon becomes too much work to build.

  • in reply to genebren

    I somehow think that completion dates for outdoor projects involving the garden here will closely be linked with mortality. Nature appears to be project managing these, regardless of whatever I may think. Slight smile

  • Doug! I’ve been following the comments, and I think michaelkellett hit the nail on the head with the 'Rabbits' analogy, we all have those home projects that multiply or go into hiding! Smiley

    For me, the project tolerance usually lasts as long as there is visible progress. If I get stuck on a single bug for more than a week, the motivation starts to dip. I really liked BigG's point about giving the brain 'daydreaming time'; sometimes stepping away for a few days is exactly what's needed to find a solution

  • I chose Other because my projects go on for more than 6 months typically... and it's not a reflection of their complexity but just in how I approach them.  For hobby projects, I don't have the burden of a deadline so there is a lengthy period of day dreaming and planning before any of the real work begins... and once things get started I only work at it if I have the energy.  There is a downside side to this though... sometimes if things are set aside for a long time it's hard to find the motivation to jump back in.

  • I'm definitely a person who can park a project on a shelf for years and then finish it up.

  • Well given I'm in the 5th year of one hobby project, I have to say it's more about the journey than the destination. I do have milestones along the way of course.