I have a magic number. 70%. On personal projects, I get about 70% finished, then I get bored. I have a huge flurry of activity, then poof, the magic is gone, I’ve moved on to a new idea.

I need someone to pick up where I leave off. I’m not making an offer for employment or anything, just wishing out loud. I would be heavenly if someone or something, a trained monkey for example, could make up the final 30% of my projects, and allow me to take 100% of the credit, which is why I suggest a trained monkey. I can feel right about taking credit for the work of a trained monkey. Monkeys have no aspirations beyond food and comfort, so they’d be letting the “credit” go to waste anyhow.

I’ve been giving this whole 70% thing some thought, and thinking of ways of reusing what I’ve done in the past to quickly jump start projects to at least the 30% mark (so I can use my 70% to get to 100%), and that seems to be going OK so far. For example, I’ve been writing a tool that writes code for me. A preliminary version is here on my site somewhere, but the current version is a lot better. I’m about 50% finished with this project, and already I’m starting to feel pooped, but I keep reminding myself that this one is important. This one is a proactive trained monkey if you feel like being funny and calling it that. It cuts down my development times by a wide margin, thus giving me a leg up on myself.

Now it’s time for stretches. I’m jumping over a cubicle wall today.