I was asked last week how I manage to keep on top of my personal projects. The question was not unexpected. I have been constantly pushing articles for boringSQL and working on tools for its ecosystem. The answer will surprise you. It's AI. But not in the way you might think.
AI is everywhere. Everybody is using it. I'm no exception. While I would consider myself a healthy sceptic, I can't imagine living in a world where I can't use it to help. I've already explained how I use it for writing. But to understand how it has changed my life, I need to go back in time.
Do I produce a lot of things? Yes. But it may come as a surprise to learn that this was always the case. I have abandoned many projects. I have abandoned many tools. My Github is full of private repositories going back to 2009. Semi-working products I used for personal projects, some still running, others that never had a real user. Many forgotten before they were even finished.
I've never had an issue with producing things. I struggled with a much bigger problem: the ability to plan and organise, the drive to see the bigger picture, the ability to choose the right path. Discipline. For years, I've been considering the idea of finding someone to be accountable to. A sparring partner. Someone to help me work on those problems. It worked with some people I know, but life got in the way.
Then AI arrived. I went through periods where I produced software just because I could. I don't shy away from that. But the life-changing effect doesn't come from there.
Along with taking notes, I tend to create a lot of text files containing my ideas, plans and thoughts. The trouble is I lacked discipline. I couldn't return to them. No matter what system I tried, after a couple of weeks I would fail. But as LLMs improved, I learned that they can provide exactly what I need. The accountability. A system I can rely on. Not something difficult. Simply knowing what to do next became the thing.
Working on personal projects can be really tough, especially when you're sitting down at 9pm and you've got nothing to start with. You need the same energy and motivation, and to believe in the vision. My laptop is now filled with documents. ROADMAP.md and VISION.md for each area I'm working on. These are not vague writings. I constantly update the list of actionable tasks.
Does it mean that I have a plan for the next three, six or 12 months? In theory, yes. But no plan survives contact with reality. That's where LLMs come in handy again. I can get the energy I had when originally working on the plan, update and reorganise various things, and put them together with just a brief exchange. Sometimes, I just close the laptop and ignore it for a day. I can now do that. There's always something to pick up when I'm back.
It also does not mean that I'm always right. But given that I take notes on a regular basis, I can use the same AI to reflect on my thoughts and do my personal retrospective about the direction in which I am going. That's what has changed. No amount of code I can generate can match that. Honestly, I don't care that much about code anyway, even to the point where I don't really care at all. I was looking for a productivity system that would suit me, and I found a tool that met all my requirements. This is my productivity boost. It's not 10% or 20%. It helps me to focus.
AI is changing the world around us. It has definitely changed mine.