I find the problem tends to be that the adrenal rush that comes with early enthusiasm breaks the order you would typically follow as an engineer. Planning is present but lax, coding tends toward hacks as a result and the outcome is a process more repair than construction. The momentum is lost and the energy that drove such excitement dissipates and gives way to regret and apathy; And the code bitrots silently.

A recent personal project of my wife and I almost went of track early – but my wife kept me, and my need for the gratification for coding, in check (and I kept her in check…) and the benefit has been epic. By keeping to the practices I use as a part of my profession the code base is solid, amazingly bug-free, easy to build on, logically ordered and invokes more pride than anything I have been involved with.

So I would suggest there is another change you should embrace:

Don’t forget the principles you have learnt as an engineer.

Good luck with the project! Can’t wait to see it!