Do you have abandoned projects?

[schmitt trigger]

During my over 50 years of electronics both as a profession and as a hobby, I have designed and built countless projects. With very limited occasions, where the project's budget has spiraled out of control or is taking way too long, I always complete my projects. Even if my original estimations proved to be too optimistic, or if the actual performance doesn't meet expectations, I complete the projects. After all, one gains more experience from difficult projects than the ones that work on the first attempt.

Nowadays however, I am on my third abandoned project on this year. After struggling with the troubleshooting or the assembly, I simply lose interest. Since this is a hobby, which is supposed to be a pleasurable endeavor, I don't pressure myself to complete it.
This doesn't mean that ideas don't keep coming, they do and plenty. I look at datasheets, search on the internet, fill my booklet with sketches. But right now I have imposed on myself a "project freeze" until I come out of this lethargy.

Have you suffered such a syndrome?
PLEASE NOTE: I have also posted this question on another forum.

[PartialDischarge]

not abandoned, but have a queue of around 12

[dmendesf]

An engineer never has a problem. He just needs more time.

[zapta]

I work on one project at a time and bring it to completion. (hobby).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grit_(personality_trait)

[Kleinstein]

Abondened projects are common in the hobby range, especially in the early stages, when there is not real hardware yet.
In some cases the transition between just a new version / design iteration of an old project and a new one is also not sharp. Another inbetween case are projects that got finished to a certain point and droped part of the origitally planed features - could be lost interest or technical hurdles. E.g. I have a frequency counter with hardware for a RS232 interface, but will likely never implement the interface as the µC ran out of memory and for me not worth it. 

I have penty of not finished projects that likely will never get to the end. Some may just not work as planed and with others I lost interrest.

[schmitt trigger]

You all bring an interesting point: many times one starts a project to employ an interesting IC or circuit technique. Once that one has understood the concept though, the drudgery of actually measuring and drilling the case holes, cutting, striping and soldering wires, and all of the myriad other details detract from the motivation.

But for me at least, there is something else: I am making more mistakes as I age. I have become more distracted. Not only related to electronics, but to actual life. Some distractions which exasperate my wife. Like when I left a beer can inside the clothes washer. I can't fathom how could I make such a silly mistake. And it was me, because there are only three of us in the household: myself, my wife and a cat. My wife only drinks wine, and I am positive that the cat doesn't drink beer either.
Anyways, those silly distractions have caused me to solder expensive ICs rotated 180 degrees. Yeah, just like a rank newbie. An error which may damage many other things requiring a complete rebuild.

[dobsonr741]

I've noticed that treating my hobby project like work, with strict deadlines and fixed goals, often takes away my motivation. Instead, when I let myself explore the idea freely or discover as I progress, the enjoyment returns. Even the initial, less exciting goal becomes just a stepping stone, easily achieved without too much stress.

[moffy]

I have a number of projects that hang around like ghosts, they haunt me but never quite go away. The ones that are most likely to be finished are necessity driven, the others i.e. 'this sounds like a nice idea' or 'I wish I had this', without necessity driving them take the longest but never quite go away. Recently I have completed a couple of projects that have been floating around for a couple of years, which is quite satisfying, but not in the form originally envisaged. I seem to be only put an old project to bed if I have completed it, no matter how long ago it started, it will continue to haunt me until some sort of resolution.

[Buriedcode]

Yes, many.  My completion rate is probably <30%.

Things like part availability are rarely the factor - mostly I find its just indecision.  I tend to brainstorm a problem - which is usually only a tiny part of the total project - and come up with 4 - 6 solutions, discount a couple for cost purposes, then can't decide which of the remaining ones to actually implement.

I suspect a few decades ago with much less availability (and choice) of cheap programmable solutions it was easier since there was only a couple of ways of doing things with a large difference in cost/hassle, so decisions were much easier to make.  These days?  I have a choice of tens of different micros, from several manufacturers, different displays, encoder? or buttons?

And then theres feature creep - what starts as a quick test setup to do a frequency sweep for audio filters turned into a full fledged, programmable system - that I have never really used.

Edit: I forgot to mention something that is much more a personality "me" problem than the technology - I really enjoy getting an inital idea and brainstorming, making frantic notes of all the ideas I have for the project, extra features, clever tricks/use of logic or micro's peripherals, then I start testing and prototyping... but then theres the boring part of just building it.  Then I get distracted by yet another idea, and start the creative frenzy with that - whilst the first one was only 10% built.  Rinse, repeat.  I have to actually force myself to finish building things by dedicating an entire day to just that and it seems to be working well, going through my backlog.

[Stray Electron]

not abandoned, but have a queue of around 12

   Same here but lots more than 12.  Partial must be a newcomer to this hobby if he only has 12 projects in the queue.

   Even if I don't finish a project, I usually learn from them.  Often I learn more from my failures than my successes.

[mzzj]

You all bring an interesting point: many times one starts a project to employ an interesting IC or circuit technique. Once that one has understood the concept though, the drudgery of actually measuring and drilling the case holes, cutting, striping and soldering wires, and all of the myriad other details detract from the motivation.

Seems like 90% of my projects: Build or test something interesting and once the basic concept is proven move to next project.
I see it more like developing "building blocks" or skills for other projects. Guess basically to learn something new.
In the remaining 5% or 10% projects there is actual, real need to get something done and with a bit of luck I have already needed solution in my mind.

[RoGeorge]

Proper question would be if I ever finished a project 

[retiredfeline]

All the time. Some are abandoned even before I think of them. 

[CaptDon]

Do ex-girlfriends count?? I have one project to finish. It rotates a Yagi antenna for 2-meter transmitter hunts and field day. I have a P.P.I. sweep display and it draws the typical 'goldfish' yagi pattern on the display with the major lobe point toward the source. I sold the 6 element antenna years back and need to replace it. The display has been updated to digital storage, prior to that I was using a 5ADP7A radar C.R.T. for the display. I realized my time on this earth grows shorter and I have given away most of my test equipment and parts inventory and I still have far to much! Just concentrating on providing quality sound for local bands and playing in a band and doing some ham radio stuff. Also decided to try to learn some C++ but that may eventually become an abandoned project as I have no real need for it, just curious!!

[coromonadalix]

yes  in the times when   mini pc's where put in the cars as audio / video / gps systems

centrafuse and other related car pc softwares, i have tons of centrafuse versions, usb gps antenas receivers ... mini / micro pc's   7"  Liliput touch screens  ...  all now sits in a box

android auto or carplay IS the new tech  loll

[Dan123456]

Absolutely! I have put projects on hold at times but that is usually because I don’t understand how to make it work or am not confident I know how to do it safely yet (I still consider myself a newbie and am still learning)

I usually try not to completely abandon projects as figure they are good learning opportunity (even if I fail miserably) but occasionally I find the exact thing I was planning to build at a price I just can’t say no to so end up just buying it rather than building it 

[Bud]

Not abandoned. But postponed. Some for 20 years   

[coppice]

Not abandoned. But postponed. Some for 20 years   

Some until the technology looks ludicrously outdated, and most of the parts needed are long out of production, but always just deferred. I know that syndrome well.

[Terry Bites]

Too many. I'm a great starter and a terrible finisher.

[gbaddeley]

To me, abandoned means the project was started, but will not ever be completed. Eg.  Components, case etc were torn down / repurposed. I have projects that have taken multiple years to complete, after completing other projects in between. Others are sitting in boxes, waiting for the time / motivation to finish them off. I also had ideas for nice projects, but took a realistic decision— I will never have time to do it, so there is no point doing sims or gathering components.

[Sacodepatatas]

...
But for me at least, there is something else: I am making more mistakes as I age.
...
Anyways, those silly distractions have caused me to solder expensive ICs rotated 180 degrees.
...

Don't feel bad.  I have been flipping ICs, wiring, letters .... for decades. 

If you are concerned, I would get tested.

Every EE knows there is an invisible goblin that likes to play annoying games like flipping elcos, diodes, wirings, etc. You can two or threefold take a look on everything being ok, but once you switch on and then magic smoke appears, you realize that this little goblin striked again.

[SiliconWizard]

That's almost a FAQ.

I think we've all been subject to this issue, more or less. Ultimately, it seems to come from two major factors: first, not having clearly defined what the goal was (if we don't exactly know what we consider the end of a project, we can obviously never know when it's done, so we end up losing track), and second, the oh-so-terrible: procrastination.

Yep, procrastination is what makes us go from one project to the next and leaving the previous one behind, because starting something new is more immediately rewarding. It's what makes us lose interest.

Now, when the goal was not clear from the start and there is no big pressure (like external pressure), moving on to something else can be beneficial - makes us learn new things. But procrastination is always there, lurking. It's an absolute plague.

[TrickyNekro]

I wouldn´t call them abandoned, just terribly postponed.

Problem is that when your hobby is your job, usually weekends are used for something else rather than sticking in front of a screen.

Although for some reason, I still keep throwing money at them, here or there, probably part of dealing with my bad consciousnesses.

And when I get to actually do some work on them, I try to not start another one, unless one of the old ones are ready first, unless it´s
something that will not take longer than the weekend. But this has also a big potential to fail... Life´s not easy...

[dietert1]

I think the industrial mantra of "finishing projects" isn't completely honest. If you think about how many versions of MS windows already exist, it's easy to understand that the concept is a marketing fake. Real achievements take years or decades to arrive at what we nowadays call IP. And the process to arrive there doesn't really happen in one head but in many. Also it doesn't happen inside one enterprise but in many. There's another contradiction: How can something public be IP?

Regards, Dieter

[SuzyC]

Easy.  IP in public.

[Paulo Peres]

Well... last year I gave a proper burial for a too complex unfinished power supply project from 1997...

Couple months ago I finished a decent and simplified version.

Of course, I started from zero this time and added 30 years of experience. Was far more easy.

[Stray Electron]

   I used to build just about all of my own power supplies and other simple devices but after E-bay came along I found that I could buy far better PSs and for far less than the components to build one costs.  Today I find that that's the case with most electronic items so I haven't actually build anything (other than a few of the $1.99 kits from China just for kicks) in YEARS!   I still do a lot of electronics repairs but I doubt that I will ever see the day again when it's worthwhile to design and build anything from scratch.

[5U4GB]

not abandoned, but have a queue of around 12

Exactly.  Nothing ever gets abandoned, it just gets enqueued for completion at a later date, with the option to clear the queue on the demise of the person who owns it.

[tszaboo]

Dozens. Hobby and professional projects. Sometimes I loose interests, sometimes the best part is done, sometimes because it would require me to do some coding. Last one, I asked the Chinese EMS how much it would cost to assemble 5 pieces, and then I realized I'm not willing to pay that much for a few pieces of cheap components.
Professionally, if there was a customer for a B2B project, you start working on it, and then they sometimes just bail out last minute.

[mkiijam]

I would like to say something is regards to all this after reading through all these posts.

WE (at least the people who have posted to this chain) are "CREATIVE" people. We simply do NOT get any (or much) dopamine kicks from COMPLETEING anything! We can complete projects, don't get me wrong. We do it all the time. There is just very little in any "chemical reward" from the event of finishing.

This is in contrast to the people who are the opposite. Perhaps you know someone who seems Hell-bent on check-boxing everything... INCLUDING checkboxes! They are finishers. It takes both. Partner yourself with a finisher and SUCCESS! But don't ever press the creative process out of yourself by trying to become a finisher... I really mean that.

[coppice]

I would like to say something is regards to all this after reading through all these posts.

WE (at least the people who have posted to this chain) are "CREATIVE" people. We simply do NOT get any (or much) dopamine kicks from COMPLETEING anything! We can complete projects, don't get me wrong. We do it all the time. There is just very little in any "chemical reward" from the event of finishing.

This is in contrast to the people who are the opposite. Perhaps you know someone who seems Hell-bent on check-boxing everything... INCLUDING checkboxes! They are finishers. It takes both. Partner yourself with a finisher and SUCCESS! But don't ever press the creative process out of yourself by trying to become a finisher... I really mean that.

Speak for yourself. I specifically worked my career towards high volume stuff in later years. After spending a lot of care and effort producing a clean design, I want to see it rolling off a production line by the million. It seems so futile without that payoff.

[BadeBhaiya]

WE (at least the people who have posted to this chain) are "CREATIVE" people. We simply do NOT get any (or much) dopamine kicks from COMPLETEING anything! We can complete projects, don't get me wrong. We do it all the time. There is just very little in any "chemical reward" from the event of finishing.

I can relate. Working on a hobby project is fun but when I finally complete it, there is nothing more to look forward to. No more challenges or problems to work on. Improving a project is often a new project in itself and a path that I seldom take. The first "working" version of a project is often where to project ends.

I am also curious what projects do you guys have planned. Here's my list,

• WiFi dimmer
• Audio response calibrator for earphones (equaliser correction generator)
• A basic fitness band
• FreeCAD plugin to rotate the view in response to how a connected (over WiFi) smartphone is rotated
• USB Isolator
• PCIe x16 to x4x4x4x4 system using USB-C cables
• A decent bluetooth microphone, probably using multiple MEMS microphones

Here's my latest "abandoned" project. A gamepad with custom designed magnetic joysticks. Mechanical design was daunting, and I ordered the 3D printed parts with too imprecise tolerances. I never got around to designing the actual plastic body.
I swear I'll complete it...someday.

[Geoff-AU]

I've only ever abandoned one hobby project...  everything else has been seen through to completion.

I have had plenty of ideas that seemed like fun, I ordered the parts, but in the time it took the parts to arrive I moved on to another idea.  So I have a lot of projects I haven't started yet 

[p.larner]

sort of related,a few years ago i decided to fit cross needle swr+power meters to a diy atu(TMATCH) ,built the rf bridge then made a cal pcb with high+low power adjustment pots for power high,power low,swr fwd swr rev high and low,life got in the way so it got put on hold as i could still use the atu with an outboard swr/power meter,just finaly finished it yesterday,by this time i had forgoten all the pcb and powerswitch hi low connections,took ages to sort it as i made no schematic when i built it all and never marked anything,its now finished+ working fine,should of finished it back then and not left it,now looking for something else to finish off!

[EPAIII]

In my career I built a number of projects, some quite long and complicated. I usually finished them unless I was taken off one for a more urgent one by a supervisor/manager. Often I was the manager so I got to finish them most of the time.

In my own world, a hobby environment, I have a much lower completion rate. Some are just too much of a stretch, either technically or, more often, financially. I can't send unlimited funds out of my own pocket. So yes, I do abandon a lot more of my own projects.

I have been working on one main project for about a month and a half or two months presently. It is complicated but I am determined to finish it. I have a smaller and simpler one sitting here on my desk. I got stuck so work on it has slowed. Tonight I had an inspiration and grabbed it and my meter. Looks like I found what the sticking point was and what I need to do to work around it. I will probably finish that one.

Started another one about a week ago but it takes the back burner when I can do work on the main one.

But I probably only finish less than 50% of my personal projects now. I have one out in the garage/shop that is around 10+ years old. It is a tool design; mechanical, not electronic. It is finish-able, but I just haven't gotten back to it. Bucket list, I guess.

It's nice not to have the pressures that I had at work.

[p.larner]

sometimes best to leave projects that have a sticking point then look againe a good while down the road with a fresh mindset.

[Buriedcode]

sometimes best to leave projects that have a sticking point then look againe a good while down the road with a fresh mindset.

Very true. Sometimes something comes along that fits the application really well, and sometimes it all just comes together naturally.  Those stackable plastic clear boxes are very handy for "box of bits" project storage.  Coupled with a label printer greatly increases the chances I'll pick it up again at some point.

[nigelwright7557]

I have done many hundreds of projects over the years.
With that came experience of what can and cant be done so I have very few failed projects.
What does tend to happen is I try to sell some projects and some make it and some dont.
The ones that dont get forgotten about and  I stop trying to sell them.

[coppice]

You know those times when a company bleats about how a need arose and they were super quick providing a commercial solution? Every time I've been able to see what lay behind one of those fast responses, it wasn't really fast at all. Some abandoned project, often someone's pet project that was not sanctioned by management and had happened out of sight, turned out to be close to what was needed. They just took that, polished it, and put it in production.