Remember last year’s summer when I thought it would be a splendid idea to write a book? I quickly found out that deadlines I make with myself don’t count. Same with this blog: I attempt to post once per week, but rarely keep my commitment. I’m too lenient with myself.
That’s why I’ve tried a different strategy lately and it works like a charm: Pair up with someone for a project. If I commit to do something to someone else, who relies on me, I follow through. Plus other people have ideas and use channels I would never think of. E.g. on Wall-Skills we get most traffic via reddit. I don’t use reddit (I’m not even sure I understand the concept) but Roland does and he takes care of that part.
That partnership works so well, I decided to team up again for Mail-Skills, this time with Chris. Between the two of us we hold ourselves accountable and that’s worth a lot.
So, if you’ve got trouble following through in projects you do by yourself, maybe there’s someone out there to partner with. It’s also less work and more fun 🙂
What are your experiences with co-projects? Can you recommend them?
Addition: As someone on Twitter pointed out, the above is mainly for non-profit projects. With for-profit projects there are other facets to consider.