The Side Project Graveyard: Why 90% of Developer Projects Die (And How to Ship Yours)

I have 47 unfinished projects on my Mac. One is literally just a folder named "million-dollar-idea" with a single empty Swift file inside.

Sound familiar?

The 5 Stages of Side Project Death

1. The Spark (Day 1) — Amazing idea at 2 AM, create repo, write README
2. The Honeymoon (Days 2-5) — Everything flows, best project ever
3. The Wall (Week 2) — Hit the boring part: auth, payments, deployment
4. The New Spark (Week 3) — A shinier new idea appears
5. Death — Original project sits untouched forever

How I Broke the Cycle

1. The 2-Week Rule

If I can't ship v1 in 2 weeks, scope is too big. My SwiftUI Starter Kit? Planned 20 screens, shipped with 5. Those 5 made money.

2. Build in Public

Post progress on social media. Social pressure > motivation. Every. Time.

3. Solve Your Own Problem

Every project I shipped solved MY problem:

• Needed SwiftUI boilerplate -> Built starter templates
• Needed productivity system -> Built Notion templates
• Needed to track finances -> Built finance tracker

4. Ship Ugly

Shipped + ugly > Perfect + unreleased

My first product looked terrible. I shipped it anyway. Then improved based on real feedback.

5. Monetize Early

My first sale was 590 rubles (~$6). That $6 motivated me more than any amount of passion.

The Shipping Checklist

Before starting any project:

• Does this solve a real problem I have?
• Can I ship v1 in 2 weeks?
• Will I use this myself even if nobody buys it?
• Can I describe it in one sentence?
• Am I willing to charge money for it?

If any answer is "no," I don't start.

I went from 47 dead projects to 27 shipped products in 3 months. Documented my framework on my Boosty page — the Startup Launch Checklist.

Daily shipping tips: t.me/SwiftUIDaily

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How many unfinished projects do you have? Be honest. No judgment.