Sip of Water

The problem with having new found happiness from breaking free from my corporate shackles, is now I have all this stuff I have been wanting to do piled on my desk and they are unfortunately out of snow shovels I hear here(I think that’s one of those big words I learned in English class) in Vancouver.

When your budget is sparse and you’re a one person shop with not enough hours in a day or days in the week, you can get what appears to be little to no work completed if you are working on several projects at once. At least, this is how I am was feeling even when keeping track of exactly what was being done so I can see that I have accomplished work on these projects.

I have been trying to carve out specs for one of my projects for about two years now. That might sound like a long time but keep in mind, I had a full-time job up until a few months ago getting in the way and am now a stay-at-home Dad. The plus side is that I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do; I just need the motivation, time and tenacity to sit and hammer out ALL the code for it. All these requirements, where to start!?

Overcoming Overwhelmed - Tip #1: Narrow Focus
Pick a piece of the project and get it launched!

If you feel like you’re stuck in the mud with no product or service to launch in sight, sit down and pick ONE piece of the project, work on it, make it as good as you can (notice I don’t say great), and get it launched!

Previously, I was feeling very overwhelmed with the amount of work needing done on this project. I have narrowed focus to write one feature of the application, get it launched, and work with the feedback to help improve the application before adding more features. (I feel it’s implied but will state explicitly that obviously the one piece of the project you pick needs to be a big enough piece for you to have a functional product or service to launch.)

Feedback is crucial to improving your product or service and you are the worst enemy when it comes to critiquing your work – especially the design aspect. By at least getting something out the door, you can start reworking and perfecting that aspect of your product or service. The emotional boost from launching will help to build confidence, motivation, and in turn, your productivity to help get the next features completed.

You may wonder how I came to a decision as to what to choose as the one feature to be working on. For me it was somewhat of an easy decision which may not be the case for everyone. The one piece I am working on is essentially the engine for the entire application I am writing in object-oriented PHP 5 which will allow me to more easily add features in the future. I would rather be able to launch the application in full, but at least by first launching this feature, I will start to feel less overwhelmed because part of the application has now been launched and will be in the tweaking stage.

Feeling overwhelmed when first being presented with a problem is a natural reaction that most people feel. What “separates the men from the boys” is in how you methodically spec and scope out the project. Are you one who always tackles a project as a whole? Can you do that without feeling overwhelmed? Or do you break the project down into smaller, more manageable chunks? Does this help you to feel more in control and less overwhelmed? Share your challenges and wins in overcoming overwhelmed.