I Was Tired of Managing Projects—So I Built This System

I Was Tired of Managing Projects—So I Built This System

As a developer, I never struggled with writing code.

I struggled with managing everything around it.

Multiple projects.
Different repos.
Scattered notes.
API keys in random places.
“Fix this later” tasks I never came back to.

Every project started clean—and slowly turned into chaos.

The Real Problem Wasn’t Productivity

It was context switching.

For each project, I had to remember:

What I worked on last

What’s broken

What’s deployed

Which API keys belong where

What I planned to do next

None of my tools solved this at the project level.

So I stopped trying to find the perfect tool and decided to build a system instead.

The Simple Rule I Followed

One project = one container of truth.

Everything related to a project should live in one place.

No mental juggling.

The System I Built

1. Project Containers

Each project has its own dedicated space:

Overview

Current status

Next actions

Notes and decisions

When I open a project, I immediately know where I left off.

1. Daily Work Log

Instead of vague TODOs, I log:

What I worked on today

What I completed

What blocked me

What I’ll do next time

This alone removed decision fatigue.

1. API & Secrets Packets

API keys were my biggest pain point.

So I created packets:

One packet per service

Linked directly to the project

Clear labels (env, usage, expiry notes)

No more searching old .env files or chat history.

1. Lightweight Progress Tracking

Not Jira. Not heavy Agile.

Just:

Started

In progress

Shipped

Paused

Simple enough to be honest.

1. Visual Thinking (Optional but Powerful)

Some problems are easier to draw than explain.

I added a space to:

Sketch flows

Map database relations

Think visually before coding

This reduced rework more than any refactor.

What Changed After Using This System

I resume projects faster

I ship more consistently

I stop abandoning ideas halfway

I feel less overwhelmed—even with more projects

Most importantly:
I trust my system to remember things for me.

Why I Didn’t Just Use Existing Tools

They’re either:

Too generic

Too heavy

Or focused on teams, not solo developers

I needed something:

Developer-first

Project-centric

Minimal but structured

So I built it for myself first.

If You’re Struggling With Project Chaos

Try this before adopting another tool:

Treat each project as a container

Log work daily (even one sentence)

Keep decisions close to the code

Reduce tools, increase clarity

Tools don’t fix chaos.
Systems do.

I’m still improving this system every day.

If you’re a solo dev or indie hacker:

How do you manage multiple projects?

What part breaks down first for you?

I’d genuinely like to learn from your approach.