Engineers Side Quests

Engineers we like to create things, think about problems and try to solve them. Even when the solution is very scrappy we love to run it and see it working and solving the problem at hand.

Science can amuse and fascinate us all, but it is engineering that changes the world.

Isaac Asimov

But many times we can get stuck in a loop of projects or work that might not be what we most like or the more exciting work to do 🙄. For example, imagine you’re in a big company and you’re changing an integration with a third party, so you have to learn about the API, see what X in the current API is and what it is in new API. You’re not creating but you’re delivering value to the business, so it still important work.

This “boring work” is something that I’ve multiple times heard from engineers that were feeling not satisfied with their current work. And many times it feels like a dead-end, if we don’t do we might get Fired or bad reviewed, but if we focus on doing it what would avoid it to repeating and consuming all your creative engineer aura again 🥲.

Engineering Side Quests

One thing I’ve found very helpful for me is having side quests or side projects at work or outside work. A side quest is a project that you don’t have any deadlines or commitment with some business person or even anyone (even yourself, remember to don’t be harsh on you), so if it works GREAT, if don’t ok we didn’t even know this existed 🤷‍♂️. This lack of commitment can create a good environment for people to be creative and come up with solutions without the pressure of time to market.

Big Companies and side projects

Side projects is not only for productivity people and developers but also for big companies with their big market objectives. Companies like 3M, Google, Atlassian and many other have policies in the company that reserves something between 10-20% time for side projects that can be beneficial to the company.

Just to give a reference, Gmail, with 1.8Bi users being the main email service in the world, was a side project at Google. You can listen to Paul Buchheit, creator of Gmail, talking about how was to create and launch it. Another big project that came up from a side project was 3M Post-Its, and its something we cannot think of a office without it!

How side projects can help you and others

You don’t need to create a new Gmail to both create you opportunities or even help others to improve their work. Side projects when successful can bring productivity gains, business value and even when you fail then lots of learning. Side projects are also an opportunity for us to get along with more engineers and create something together.

Sometimes in a repetitive internal process, just by creating a template feature you can be saving multiple hours of time across your company.

Be aware of your time and energy

Side projects, as the name say, are beside the main projects. As much as creating that dashboard or automatizing that flow might be cool or exciting, we have quarters, we have projects and mainly teammates that are expecting our work in the project the team committed to deliver. So when working with side projects we should always be aware to it don’t get in the way of what we will be accounted for and also what the business expects from you. As mentioned in a previous post, we should always focus in delivering value, and our team project should be our focus, then the side projects.

So when creating a side project try to timebox for it, and respect it! Weekends are there but company side projects should be done in working hours and if possible aligned with your manager, otherwise it can seem like you’re running away from our obligations 👀.

Also if you finish the day drained, stop take a rest, don’t jump into the side project, remember side. You and your well being should be the main thing, don’t feel pressured to do the side project but see it as a escape valve. knowing that be aware for hackathons, they might be glamorous but sometimes the weekend well rested is all you needed!

Kickstarting a side project

Ok so how do I create a side project? Start from a Problem! Engineers solve problems and we btw are really good at finding them (not so much in prioritizing them 😅)

Ok I think we need a new CRM from sketch, with AI features that we can integrate Teams, Google Meets VOIP into a automated… wait wait wait wait! Are you’re looking for a small side project or VC funding?

Start small and advance, tackle one problem at the time. Define the problem talk with people about the problem and try to solve 1 small specific part of it and see if help people or you feel its something that you’re learning

Having Feedback around your work

Also its important to know how this project is going or if it still in the way of solving the problem at hand. This way, its good to create deliverables and mini personal milestones that creates a sense of progress. Sitting in a project for 6 months can be demotivating and also frustrating, so drop all the fancy stuff and your perfectionism. If more people know about the project share with them, gather feedbacks and see how it is being valued!

Its a side project, its ok to be not ready

Gmail was launched on April Fools’ Day 2004, but it wasn’t actually ready for prime time. The code wasn’t finished, and the infrastructure wasn’t ready to handle more than 10,000 users. However, the product was a hit, and people were begging for invites. So don’t expect your project to be perfect or to be the ideal version of what you’ve envisioned, its ok to be scrappy or incomplete but you’re learning, getting challenged and if all goes right, helping and solving other peoples problems as well.

Conclusion

This way, embrace the side projects if you have time and energy for it! They can bring lots of learning and even be a boost in your career, and help others. And most of all, have fun, side projects are bets that can be good but also just be archived and move on to the next. Enjoy the ride and build stuff!

PS: Documentation can be a HUGE side project, I’ve took a couple already and they paid well the time invested.