Developer Reflects on How Perfectionism and Scope Creep Kill Personal Projects

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A software developer has shared a candid self-reflection on why personal projects like a portfolio website and a side project remain unfinished despite repeated intentions to start them. The developer identifies a recurring pattern of over-planning, where obsessing over the ideal tech stack, features, and execution prevents any actual work from beginning. A job application task illustrates the problem vividly: a simple LinkedIn search spiraled into building an AI-powered automation workflow, sourcing a VPS, and resolving international payment issues over many hours. The author describes this as a trap of chasing prerequisites, where each step toward perfection uncovers new requirements that delay the original goal indefinitely. The piece serves as a personal diagnosis of perfectionism-driven paralysis, a challenge many developers recognize in their own workflows.

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