Why I’m Releasing One Project Every Month

The idea of releasing one project every month has been around for a while. Pieter Levels popularised it back in 2014 with his 12 Startups in 12 Months challenge, and loads of people have tried their own version since. I like the simplicity of it, so I’m giving it a go myself.

A lot of my ideas never make it past the early stages. I get excited, start building, then talk myself out of finishing it. Sometimes it feels too small, sometimes I think no one will care, and sometimes I just lose momentum. That’s why for the next year I’m setting myself a challenge. Release one project every month.

Why I don’t finish things

Most of my projects start because I think something would be cool to build. It might be something I wish another app did, or an idea I want to try, or just me wanting to see if something is even possible. I usually build the fun or interesting part first, and that bit comes together fast. But that’s only about twenty percent of any real app. The rest is the slower, boring eighty percent you don’t think about at the start.

Once the exciting part is done, I start questioning everything. Who is going to use this? Is this even worth releasing? Why would someone pick this over something that already exists? That doubt builds, and instead of finishing the simple stuff, I get caught up on tiny details. I stop thinking about the cool feature I just built and focus on things like footer spacing, empty states, or some button I don’t like.

Releasing brings its own nerves. I don’t have this problem at work, but when it’s something that’s entirely mine, it feels different. It’s easier to start a new project than to push through that feeling and actually put something out there. I’ve finished plenty of projects, but the release stage is where I tend to stall.

Looking back, a lot of those “missing features” like password resets or emails were just excuses not to ship. I want to stop doing that this year. I want to make something real, even if it’s a basic but useful version, instead of waiting until it feels perfect. Because if I’m honest, the main thing that stops me finishing is that it never feels quite right.

The rules

I’m keeping the rules simple because I know if I make them complicated, I’ll end up using them as another reason not to ship. The plan is one project each month, no matter how small it is. It has to be something I can actually release, not just a prototype sitting in a folder somewhere. It doesn’t need account systems or perfect onboarding or a long feature list. It just needs to exist, even if it’s a really basic version.

If a project ends up tiny, that’s fine. If it ends up rough, that’s fine too. The only thing that matters is finishing it and putting it out there.

What do I want out of this?

I want to get better at shipping instead of sitting on ideas forever. I want to break the habit of drifting away once the fun part is done. I want to learn to make smaller versions of things instead of trying to build the whole world at once. I also want to see what happens when I actually release stuff instead of keeping it hidden.

I’m not expecting to build twelve huge products. I just want twelve finished things that I didn’t overthink.

What am I scared of?

The main thing I’m scared of is that I won’t believe in what I’ve built once it’s finished. I can spend weeks working on something, be proud of it while I’m building it, and then hit a point where I convince myself it isn’t good enough. Not because of what anyone else might think, but because I start doubting the idea, the value, or whether it actually deserves to exist.

I know this is the stage that usually stops me from releasing anything. It’s not fear of comments or people judging it. It’s me talking myself out of it. Part of this whole challenge is learning to push past that moment and ship it anyway.

What am I excited about?

I’m excited to see what I can make when I’m not trying to perfect everything. I’m excited to try smaller ideas I’ve ignored for years. I’m excited to learn new things, get quicker at building, and see which ideas surprise me. I’m also excited about the momentum this could build. If I can actually stick to it, I think it’ll change the way I work.

And there’s something fun about not knowing which of these twelve projects, if any, might become something bigger.

The first project

My first project is called Work For It Work Worth. The idea is simple. You type in the price of something and it tells you how many hours you’d need to work to afford it. It’s just a little grounding tool before you buy something on impulse.

There’s a small settings screen where you can set your hourly rate, or work it out from your take home pay and hours. I added a currency picker and an optional savings section too, so you can see what you might miss out on in the long run if you spent the money instead of saving it.

I built most of it over a couple of evenings in November, so it feels a bit like cheating for December. But I’ve never shipped an app to the App Store before, and I want to go through the full process. It’s a chilled first project, but it gets me moving.

I’ll try to post a short write up each month about what I built, what I learned, and what I’m planning for the next project.