There are thousands of creative people in the world but it seems only a handful get their projects done. Many folks have come to me with the “I have an idea for a great website” or the “I have this great application that needs to be coded” comments but nothing ever arises from it.

In some situations. they ask for my help bringing their concept to life. However, I have found there are only so many in hours in the day to write software and taking on everyones bright ideas just isn’t feasible. In most situations, the people whom invent the ideas are quite capable of carrying it out on their own but never move forward with it.

Then there are developers that actually have an idea, build on the idea, write down some concepts and start writing the software. Months into the project they lose heart, interest or just never get it done. Most of those same developers start a new project and never tie off the ends of the first project. They repeat this behavior several dozen times.

If you never finish a project you really have gained nothing mentally positive from the experience. Sure, you may have learned some neat techniques and creative design concepts but there is no satisfaction. You really gain satisfaction by publishing “version 1.0″

Nobody may use your first release or even know it exists. But, without hitting this important milestone you can never really look back at the idea and be proud from what you learned and what you’ve accomplished. There is a high level of satisfaction for calling something “done.”

This happens a lot with independent game development. There is some fear of finishing the project and since its not being run by a formal marketing team or development team there is no push for a scheduled release. There is probably no funding so the idea of “running out of time” doesn’t arise as quickly and you just continue down the version 1.0 path for a year or two. Perhaps you just don’t want to call it complete because you’re afraid of criticism or having to kiss your baby goodbye?

If there is one lesson to be learned, nail down a set of milestones for a 1.0 feature release. Release the project after testing all the features and call it finished. Now you can advance to 2.0 and work on another set of features with incremental differences until you’ve published a 2.0 release. Rinse, repeat.

Never, however, let your release creep on forever. Not only will you never gain the satisfaction of finishing the project but you’ll have a very difficult time getting future funding without showing your past work. Showing a potential funder the ten half-finished projects you’ve worked on will make them wonder “am I funding a half-finished project too?”

You never signed up to code the perfect project. But a project that isn’t ever done never really was a project - it was simply a waste of time. Accomplish the task you set out to do as if you’ve scaled the highest peak and left your mark of completion.