Failure at 80%

Roger Gentry — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 18:24:47 +0000

I like coming up with new ideas or creative ways to solve a problem. I build projects as a solution to a problem that I identify. The problem with having a lot of projects is the failure rate in building them. There comes a point when the technical complexities of what you are working on are solved and the next part of the project is just wrapping everything together.

I tend to refer to this as the 80% rule

When working on a project I have found myself getting caught into a trap where 80% of the work is completed but the remaining 20% needed to actually complete the project feels unattainable. If you are working alone on something this is the biggest hurdle to jump past. So much of my time is spend in this agonizing period.

“The project is almost done I just need to do X to finish”

When do you consider something successful? When is the project completed? How do you determine when something is actually complete?

Often I find myself stuck in the last 20% of the project wanting to make the thing perfect before it gets released. The fear of success and the fear of failure are paralyzing. This keeps the unfinished projects on a shelf occupying the brain space that would otherwise be spent on something far more productive.

When do you consider a project a failure?

A project that gets stuck in the final stretch never produces an outcome. The results are never delivered. Part of the struggle for me is that a project can not fail if it never releases. This is how I trick myself into not finishing anything. That fear of both success and failure causes a stagnation to occur. So now I am trying to rethink and change how I define the goal posts.

Let’s say that a successful project is something that is shipped with a minimal set of features. The minimal viable product or MVP is considered the first release and the first version of the project being completed at 100%. Next we will make the project a “failure” if we do not ship the MVP. The last thing that needs to be resolved is the fear of both success and failure of the project.

This concept of the fear of success has been something I have struggled with constantly. But it only surrounds itself when it comes to my own personal projects. These are the projects that I feel a strong connection to. I want to showcase my best work and show how great I can do things but that is also the problem. By trying to make the project perfect I end up not working on it at all and instead allow myself to get stuck in an endless cycle of crashing at the 80% spot.

Avoiding the 80% trap with accountability and documentation

Working on a project as a single developer is challenging, one of the things that makes it difficult is the lack of accountability outside of yourself. It’s very easy for me to disappoint myself by not hitting a deadline I have set or a milestone I created on a project. When you have someone else involved in the project you suddenly have someone waiting for you to complete the work that you promised to deliver so they can keep working on their part. While it’s not always possible to work in a team or have someone that can hold you accountable I have found that keeping a blog about the project to be the most helpful compromise to not having a teammate to pair accountability with.

Writing into the void that is the internet gives me a place to talk about the project that I am working on, the goals I want to achieve, and the milestones that I am setting out to reach. By writing these things out you make a commitment to more than just yourself. There’s a chance that you never meet or talk to any of your users. The idea that they exist and are waiting for the next update is enough drive to keep me going.

Documentation is the other important step to building successful projects. When you are working on a passion project it’s easy to keep building and never document what you are building. I am very guilty of doing this a lot even though I practically preach the power of documentation. From my personal experience the projects that I have completed successfully were also the ones that I took the time to write out the documentation.   

While it may not be the most glamorous part of the project, writing out what you want to accomplish and breaking that goal down even further is what has helped me overcome the failure at 80%.

Ember Meeting - Conference calls with notes

Roger Gentry — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 19:04:09 +0000

Meetings and conference calls are a part of what makes any project successful. When you are dealing with team members that are working remotely (like we all seem to be doing recently) keeping your calls short and your notes updated is critical to staying on track. Having spent my fair share of time on these calls I have always thought of ways that it could be improved and optimized for better results.

What I am building

Ember Meeting

Projects and ideas are like a fire, they require attention to keep going. Embers are small piece of a dying fire, give this ember some fuel and you can build a bonfire.

Ember Meeting is the result of the frustration that I suffered as a conference host and user. It combines a conference call control panel with a note taking application.

Features

Live participants feed
Conference controls
- Mute/unmute all guests
- End the conference
- Record the call
Meeting agenda
Create meeting notes from agenda
Send summary of the call and notes via email
One click mobile dial into conference

How I am builing it

Python
Flask
Bootstrap
Twilio Conferences
Twilio Caller ID
Twilio SendGrid

Designing a web interface

My goal is to build something that is easy to use. I connect to a lot of calls while on my phone (sometimes while walking the dog). Being able to manage the calls that I am hosting from my mobile device is a must have feature. Using the bootstrap feature makes sure that this will be responsive across platforms and screen sizes. Using Bootstrap and font awesome made building touch friendly UI elements quick.

Agenda

Staying on topic is important to make sure that you meeting is completed in a timely fashion. The call agenda allows for creating and assign call topics to the responsible user. Once you have your agenda ready to can copy all items to your notes field and use it as a template to create your meeting minutes.

Participants

Shows a live feed of who is on the call with caller ID and label support.

Meeting Controls

Uses bootstrap buttons to control the conference call.

Notes and action items

The notes field allows for quick call notes to make sure you are not missing anything important. Action items allows for quick bullet points as to the next steps you need to take.

Forem: Roger Gentry