Shipping around a day job

Most indie products get built in the hours left over from someone else's work. Which means the real constraint isn't time — it's energy. A side project's setup should spend none of it on friction.

Decide once, while you're fresh

The worst thing you can do in a tired session is decide what to work on. Tired brains are terrible at choosing and fine at executing. Leave yourself one line at the end of each session — next: wire the paywall screen — and start there tomorrow. No backlog grooming when you're running on fumes.

Make the first minute free

• One command to run everything. If starting the project takes three terminals and a wiki page, you'll spend your best twenty minutes on setup. Script it down to one.
• Kill the blank screen. End sessions mid-task, not at clean stopping points. A half-finished function is the fastest possible restart.
• Stage your tools like a kitchen. Editor, simulator, and the one dashboard you actually check — everything else closed. Every open tab is a tax on a tired brain. This is why launchers like Raycast earn their place: the distance from "sat down" to "typing in the right window" drops to one keystroke.

Protect the ship moment

Momentum on a side project comes from finishing things, so size tasks to the session: one screen, one bug, one email. Shipping something tiny beats leaving a big thing 80% done — the 80% version costs you the next session's first hour just remembering where you were.