Guides · Work
Ship a side project in small steps
From an idea in your notes to something people can use. Not by finding more time, but by making the next piece small enough for the time you have.
5 min read · Updated 2026-11-15 · By the Osiris team, with AI
Most side projects don’t die from a bad idea. They die from never being small enough to finish. The fix isn’t more evenings. It’s a smaller next piece.
Decide what done means
Write one sentence: what someone can do with it when it’s finished. “A friend can sign up and log a workout.” Not “a fitness app.” Everything that isn’t in that sentence can wait for the next version.
Fix the time, cut the scope
Give the first version a fixed amount of time, a month of evenings say, and cut features until it fits, instead of moving the date when it doesn’t. Basecamp’s free book on how they plan work calls this setting an appetite, and it’s just as useful for one person as for a team1.
Make the ugliest version that works
Get one path working from start to end before you make any of it nice. A plain form that saves something is worth more than a beautiful screen that doesn’t. You can’t polish what doesn’t exist yet.
Show it to one person
Before it feels ready, show it to one person who might use it, and watch without explaining. Where they get stuck is your next piece of work. Where they don’t is the part you can stop worrying about.
Ship, then the next piece
Put it where people can use it, even if only five do. Then pick the next small piece from what you learned. Shipping once makes the second time much easier, because now you know the whole road.
One small thing
Write one sentence that says what “done” means for your project. Put it where you’ll see it.
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