Project Procrastination… Causes and Cures
by dwarfsoft on Mar.15, 2009, under Home
I find myself sitting at the Computer attempting to start the redevelopment of Breakout, and find that the Procrastination that has set in seems to be linked almost entirely to the blogging side of the development.
I have actually done a fair bit of work on the design, even to the point of having a UML model and having the class inheritance already worked out, and all the class shells having been created in the project. The issue is with explaining where I am and how I got to this point. So, in order to break the drought I started talking about the procrastination that is present in order to force the flow of ideas to continue.
Procrastination is one of my demons, both in initiating a project, and completing a project. The causes are usually to do with planning, scope, or being otherwise occupied. Scope is the simplest aspect to resolve in that features can be cut so as to reduce the required workload. Planning is where the majority of decisions regarding the direction of the project can be considered with regard to the desired scope of the project. A properly planned project should have adequate (and achievable) milestones, and a clear scope outlining desired functionality, and most importantly the undesired functionality. By identifying “features” that you do not want in the final project you can help to avoid feature creep.
The final issue regarding project procrastination is a hard one to resolve. These days things are hectic with work, family, friends, activities, study, and a lot more pressures bearing down on our limited workday. Planning plays some role in this as well, as by scheduling time in which to actually do project work removes some of the excuse of avoiding the project work.
So, having now written about my own procrastination, it is time now to start on my project. Thanks for reading.
Cheers, Chris.
Procrastination is an extremely common demon. Nearly everyone I know suffers from it to some extent!
For me, planning is a form of procrastination in and of itself. When I subconsciously don’t want to do something on a project, it’s too easy to think that the solution to my problem is more planning. Eventually I have to actually implement those plans!
Another easy trap is perfectionism, which strikes in many forms. The one that often gets me is fear of failure, which leads to extra tension in ensuring something is “right first time”, which also leads to extra planning. Plus with something as large in scope as making a game there’s always multiple elements that need working on. If you don’t feel like, say, working on the GUI, you can procrastinate by spending more time working on the core engine than is strictly necessary.
Yep, it’s extremely common ;). Conquering procrastination is one of the key things to being truly effective. I wish I was close to doing so.
And it even sucks more when you have Lack of motivation with it, its seriously a big problem. Is explicitly stating every goal (i.e. writing it down on a paper..etc.) going to help?
Also, as mentioned by Trapper (post above), Perfectionism is another thing that bugs me sometimes, used as just another excuse, fortunately, I could control myself and not let it continue happening.
I agree with him, its a common thing, happens from time to time, comes and goes.