How do you motivate yourself to resume working on a project that you haven't touched in some time? [closed]?

This is what I'm doing: I created too much buzz on Facebook, so all my friends got interested. I created a group to promote my project on Facebook. Now, whenever I'm bored, I get messaged by people asking me when am I releasing.

:-).

Hah, yes, "please nag me". +1 – Frank Shearar Mar 17 '10 at 7:42 LOL, that's the unfortunate true Frank and it keeps me motivated. At one point, someone called me to write a book about me (in case I get rich!

As if). – The Elite Gentleman Mar 17 '10 at 8:26.

If you are no longer excited by the project then it was never meant to be - if you have to force yourself to be interested then all you will produce is average code with no love in it. Throw it away and start on a new project :) Or rewrite the old one before continuing with it, now that you have had time to think about it you probably have a dozen ways you would like to improve it.

1 @slugster I don't know... sometimes it's just better to finish the program even if it's not THAT exciting anymore. Unless of course there is a blatant error which wasn't seen during the inception (like I tried to develop my own algorithm for the Netflix prize and it turns out that I just did KNN without knowing it). – Lirik Mar 17 '10 at 16:23 That's a great way to end up with a lot of incomplete stuff of little or no value.

There are always bumps on the road. There are folks who prefer to create stuff, get things started (I am in that category), but the society has an habit of rewarding completing stuff. – Sylverdrag Jun 18 '10 at 15:12.

I try out something new on the old project. For example, I tried using LINQ on an old web app, or rewrite it using MVC instead of using web forms. Then it becomes a sandbox for learning new stuff and I gain interest in the project again.

Also, one may want to write blog entries on his/her learning, that might force even more commitment. Oh, another technique, inspired by another answer -- tell everyone that you are finally doing it, announce it to the entire world, and then you are committed. Does not work for everyone though :).

Usually the project scratches an itch. You haven't gone back to the project because the itch isn't itchy enough. So ask your friends if they share that itch.

Talk about the project with them, ask their advice, or how they'd address part of the problem the project seeks to solve. That might be enough to get you in your chair. Once you're sitting in front of your IDE, project open, just start small.

Look over the code to re-familiarise yourself just enough to find something that's not quite right. If there's a missing test, write that. If you already have a decent test suite and a function just looks wrong, refactor it.

To echo Eugene... commit to a release date for a new version (even if it's a point version) and add in at least one new feature. Repeat as necessary.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.