Ask HN: On how many side-projects you manage to work at the same time?

Task-switching has a cost even on computers, and it has a much higher cost to us, because we have to acclimatize and deacclimatize to tasks, both cognitively and emotionally, in order to reach optimum efficiency.

In terms of efficiency, concentrating on one task at a time is best, but as people, we also get bored, and look for amusement/distractions. Other projects are a useful way to cater to this need.

One major/difficult project, and a handful of trivial/noncritical/short-term projects are a good combination. Don't take on more than one major project at a time.

I pick one and work on it for that week.

Right now i'm working off and on on 3 web projects, and a couple of c/c++ tutorials, and i can forget about by own self-imposed timelines and deadlines at the drop of a hat anyway, but I find that it's a lot easier to get somewhere on anything by just focusing on that for a while.

I am fairly unorganized. At the moment I have ~20 projects in various states of completion. My main project takes up most of my time, but I try to feed the others when I can. I also look for opportunities to combine them where possible e.g. "oh I can use the framework I am developing for A to do B also"

The one thing I try not to do is burn out on one project, when I feel that happening I shift to something completely different or just go read a book for a couple of days.

Others have spoken to the psychological side of this, but one practical issue - if you're switching between different contexts in the shell, I find it very worthwhile to point bash at a different HISTFILE per context (where contexts could be specific projects, system administration, or whatever).

one

A great conversation regarding handling multiple side projects https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7637409

thank you all for the pointers