How do you prioritize/organize projects?

Seriously, how do you guys all do it? Especially adding in kids, jobs, wives, how?

I've got 3 "major" projects I want to get done this year, on top of the challenge car and autocross. I can't even figure out the order to do them in, which is only a problem because I can't afford to do them all at once. The Challenge will actually be my vacation this year, including the ~30(combined) hours of drive time there and back, pitching in on the parking lot build, and whatever else comes up while I'm down there. Not much of a vacation left when all is said and done.

In the mean time, scope creep keeps making them projects bigger, more intricate, and more costly. I really don't know how to get it all under control.

I'll grant that money is the big factor holding me back from getting all of them done, but really it's not an excuse. Hell, I could do 2 of the "big" projects for under a grand. But an example: I started cleaning my garage to be able to work in it in the Winter of 2015. I finally got around to hauling out bags of stuff and cleaning the workbench up in the last 2 weeks to a month. I've also bought clamps, drawer organizers, hanging racks, and all kinds of incidental E36 M3 to make organization "easier". I have no real shortage of time, although watching the kid Monday to Thursday makes things tricky as far as collecting parts and actually being able to put time in during daylight hours.

My "major" projects for the year actually started out as 2 things, and in the past week evolved to 3.

The biggest, most expensive, but most lucrative to complete is the carport conversion in my other thread. Estimated cost of 2 grand for concrete, wire, rebar, and all the electrical crap. Should take me about 4 months to save that up, but will make working on cars and working outside in general a thousand times better. Obviously, it's the project I want to get done first, but it's also the most money, time, and labor intensive, and winter kinda sucks for concrete work. The hardest part for me is actually saving the money up, and not putting it into other projects along the way.

The second two kind of tie together. Building a newer, better furnace for casting metals with. No problem, under $200 for all materials, really could buy and build at any time. But thinking about casting more has added in a few unexpected/unforeseen additions. Like pattern making, and proper sand preparation. This now requires building a muller, and the bigger piece of the puzzle and 3rd project, is a CNC router for carving patterns out. This has so far evolved into tool, lumber, and miscellany purchases before even getting the stuff to make the furnace. Adding CNC also adds lots of software learning, and possibly software purchases, increasing price and scale of the project. Yes, I could be already putting together the new furnace while I figure all this stuff out, and probably should be, but I just can't bring myself to place the order and actually get it done. Saying "it's too cold for mix to set" and "when the weather gets better" knowing full well when the weather is better, I'll shift focus back to the cars for autocross, rally cross, challenge prep, slapping on lift kits and getting stuck, and all kinds of other not productive things.

I'm really just at a loss as to how and where to get started. Once I actually have time to get things done, I can't seem to find the motivation to actually do it, and find bullE36 M3 excuses and reasons to just put stuff off.

How do you guys combat these feelings and actually get E36 M3 done? How do you decide what gets done and when? And maybe more importantly, how do you stop scope creep from turning a $50 1 hour project into a month long $1000 ordeal?

I put stuff and ideas on the shelf and when it drives me mad that they aren't getting done i thrash to do them. Thats how i made it to the challenge the last 2 years, that's how it's going to happen this year.

I'm in middle of gutting and rebuilding one room in the house right now. I had a customer job's financing fall through so i was off all week so i gutted the room Monday and hung drywall today. I could have spent that time working in the garage but this room and it's lack of insulation has been eating at me. Now i'll be down to one room left(kitchen) and i can put that off until next winter.

Go with the flow, the more I try to force a project the slower it goes. It'll get done, quality takes a little longer.

I don't, thats why I have so many. As long as I can go out into the garage and work on something, I'm good. Don't care if or when things get finished. I can go out and say, I feel like building a roll cage. Hey look, that car needs one. I can go out and say its going to be real nice outside for a week, I'm going to do bodywork. Hey look, that car needs paint. Drives my wife absolutely crazy, but I'm happy and that's whats important. Parts cars that are taking up spots with winter setting in do take precedence over all other. Nothing worse than trying to move things around a snow covered driveway. Except when all of those parts just make it into the garage and then winter sets in and you can't even get into the garage. Thats what happened this year.

I'm all about the finished project, so historically speaking I've always sold them off when I got frustrated due to a lack of time/money/tools/talent. I've gone several years without a project, so we'll see if the Vette falls into that pattern or not.

I've also come to realize the secret is to not take on a project you don't have the time/money to complete - which is much easier said than done. Oh, and it's always going to take 10x as long, and cost 10x as much as you expect it will. Always.

petegossett wrote: I'm all about the finished project,

This is how the world turns in the business world.

Personally, I recommend in prioritizing by what is higher in your personal priorities hierarchy. This means you have to be able to verbalize what is truly important to yourself. Most people can't do this.

Is having an almost perfect finished project high on the list yet you don't have the time or money to do it? Put it off. Is just having a 80% to goal functional project doable and ok and resources are available for that level. Do it.

Most of my personal projects have died due to lack of resources to obtain my idea of what completion would be on my time schedule. So they don't get started. Unfortunately, this is also why I don't follow a lot of things that could benefit me. It pays to be more iterative at first.

Good luck.

I think my projects typically fall into 3 categories:

• Those that allow me to make money (fixing a daily driver to get to work, flipping that piece of furniture from the garage sale, etc)

• Those that protect the value of expensive things (home repairs/upgrades, removing that sketchy tree that leaned over my parking spot)

• Hobbies (things that interest me, but don't really fall into either of the other 2 categories).

The first and second categories always take priority over hobbies

In your case, unless the casting/CNC stuff will be a major income generator for you, I'd probably focus on the carport. It will be the most useful to you.

• It can protect your vehicles, which you have decent money tied up in and can reduce wear/tear which lessens the frequency of necessary repairs

• It will give you a more pleasant working environment, which makes future projects more likely to be completed

• It can increase the value of your house, helping to protect/maintain the value of your most significant assets

• It can offer a location for you to turn a wrench if you need to in order to make some extra cash, or offer temporary storage, etc (possible income generator).

Following for suggestions because I am absolutely buried right now to the point of being overwhelmed. I have so much to do that when I get home from work, I can't decide what to do and end up doing nothing.

Very frustrating.

For what to do next on a given project:

As far as prioritizing multiple projects, I go by whatever I most want to complete- often, I don't want to work on anything, so I have to rephrase it to be a more negative "which of these things is making me the most angry by sitting here incomplete?"

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: For what to do next on a given project: As far as prioritizing multiple projects, I go by whatever I most want to complete- often, I don't want to work on anything, so I have to rephrase it to be a more negative "which of these things is making me the most angry by sitting here incomplete?"

Now you are just trying to get me in prison...

I swear this is me. Everything I touch cascades into something worse.

The solution is to stop touching stuff!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/RHpJFROEOmg

In reply to STM317:

That's kinda my issue, everything falls into "hobby" for me. If I buy something to flip, it's usually 3 days without sleep just busting ass on it to get it done and sold again.

The car port really should be my top priority, it's just hard not to acquire other projects while saving the money.

A big issue is the only time I feel motivated to get work done is when I tossing and turning trying to fall asleep at 3am. While that has worked for cleaning the garage up, it's frustrating when nowhere is open to get that last part our repair the broken tool,and and it falls to the wayside again.

Take my website for example. 3 weeks of endless work got it setup for 6 months of working by itself to generate income, then I never got back to it. Just paid my hosting bill,and well, I broke even last year. My biggest drawback is I changed cameras(phones) and never set my tripod up for the new one. Being bad at remembering to take pictures has been the biggest downfall though, because it's not like I don't cook 4 nights a week.

Even minor things just don't seem to get done. I've needed to recaulk my shower since last summer. Now, it's too cold at night for caulking to set, and by spring I'll forget about it and be backed up with the cars and everything else.

Making lists helps, initially, but I actually have a list of lists that need completed now.

Seeing guys like mazdeuce get so much stuff done working around 4 kids and a wife just makes it seem like I'm coming up with reasons not to get stuff done instead of actually doing it.

RevRico wrote: In reply to STM317: Seeing guys like mazdeuce get so much stuff done working around 4 kids and a wife just makes it seem like I'm coming up with reasons not to get stuff done instead of actually doing it.

Sounds like you are. You're already building in reasons to not do stuff in the spring

For personal projects, I try to stick to one thing at a time. I tend to get a bit of a one track mind and work best when I have one single issue in front of me to obsess over. Simplify and add lightness, everything goes on the back burner until priority #1 is complete. That's why my half finished upstairs bedroom will probably remain as such until the LS RX7 is done (or SWMBO starts getting pissed about it, which will probably come first .

One of my primary functions at work is also project management, but that same mentality doesn't really work there. At any given time I could have 5-20 projects going on, always with overlapping demands and time requirements. The ability to focus on one thing at a time is a luxury not afforded to me, so it becomes a matter of juggling: whichever ball is closest to dropping gets the immediate attention. Once it's up in the air again, move on to the next thing, then repeat a half dozen plus times per day. It's frustrating at times because it feels like nothing ever gets completed, but its really the only way to keep everything moving and everyone happy.

I go with the flow.

I noticed that when I was single and my gf (now wife) was long distance, I was always busy. Not really busy with anything, but I never had free time. Then when we moved in together, I was still always busy. Then we moved into the city. Still busy. Said, hey, we'll have more time when we move into the suburbs. Guess what? Still busy.
My manager just completed his MBA. He has 3 kids. He said he should have done it before children, but everyone in his program who was childless--even single people--still didn't have time for anything.

Guess what? You fill your time no matter what. It might not be productive, but you'll fill it. Find out what your big time sinks are when you're away from work--your supposed free time. You'll be shocked how much if it is spent doing nothing productive, but still doing something. Phone time (which increases toilet time). TV. Forum time.

Last night for the first time in a long time, I said I need to actually get stuff done. It wasn't all that productive, there wasn't much to show, but I didn't watch tv and put my phone out of reach. I got more done last night than I have in the previous 3 weeks combined. I'm thinking about putting the tv away in the closet for a while until I can get things around the house more under control.

So that doesn't help you with the prioritization, but for that I look at it like this: What has a hard deadline? Challenge does. Your Carport doesn't--and isn't necessary for the challenge. Same with your casting furnace. Those go to the back of the line. Eventually you'll likely have to scale back on the challenge and just not do it. Or do a buy and drive $1500 miata and run as is.

Rev, if you figure this stuff out let us all know. I also have a cacophony of projects clamoring for attention, and have trouble figuring out which ones to prioritize. I think it's in the nature of car / project guys to have that. Add in kids and you've got a recipe for stress and zero progress on projects which for people like us just adds to the stress.

There are a couple key things to remember, in my opinion. 1) Everyone only has 24 hours in a day. Mazdeuce, Nohome, everyone. So you know that somehow you, too, can make progress despite all the challenges. 2) Don't let the projects interfere with your time with the little one. She's more important than all of them added up, and will really treasure and remember your time together. One day she's going to move out and you'll miss her. Hopefully you'll have a big cushion of lovely memories with her to fall back on.

My daughter is pretty much the same age as yours - she turned 2 in November. And it's a challenge for me to keeping moving on projects. After she goes to bed, I have maybe an hour or two to work on things, and at that point I'm so tired I'm tempted to unplug and unwind and forget about projects. But if you can spend even 15 minutes on something productive, that's 15 minutes closer to complete on that item. Tuna55 has demonstrated how that can lead to actual serious progress on a project.

Eliminating projects can also help a lot. I was going to part out my GS430 but sold it to a fellow GRM'er. It didn't net me as much cash but it saved me about 80-90 hours of work that I can now apply to any of the dozen or more other projects I have going on. It can mean the difference between sanity and madness to just let go of a few projects.

I meant to add, I find it helpful to concentrate on things that will make your quality of life better first. When we bought our enormous project house back in 2014, my wife was 6 months pregnant. I had to take the house from a mouse infested moldy ceiling collapsing mess into a nice livable home for a mother and baby. I busted my ass for two months straight, working from 5:30pm - ??? (sometimes 2am) every day, and did it. Sometimes I wonder where that energy came from but the reality is it was just "it had to be done, so I did it." Somehow you need to figure out how to trigger that motivation in yourself to dig out of a mess. I need it again, but with the kids .. it's awful hard to come up with.

Try it, though - set a deadline on a project that's been bugging you, and make it happen. You might be surprised at what you accomplish. Don't "force it," but to quote the immortal shia labeouf, "do it."

Pick one project and finish it. Can be the easiest or the hardest on the list.

Now, you will have one less thing to do, and some momentum. I find the sense of accomplishment addicting; kinda like winning at something. Repeat as needed.

You can even use this approach within a project, pick a task and do that task until it is "done" then pick another task and so on until you have a Challenge car or Garage or whatever completed.

Well... I can say I now feel motivated to clean up my garage when I get home tonight so that I can get back to the TDI.

Hopefully that motivation will still be there in 3 hours or so when I get home from work.

NOHOME wrote: Pick one project and finish it. Can be the easiest or the hardest on the list. Now, you will have one less thing to do, and some momentum. I find the sense of accomplishment addicting; kinda like winning at something. Repeat as needed. You can even use this approach within a project, pick a task and do that task until it is "done" then pick another task and so on until you have a Challenge car or Garage or whatever completed.

Going to pick on this and say do the easiest on the list first, to gain the momentum you mention later. Snowball effect. It is psychological--even if it doesn't make logical sense to do that easiest thing first, it will help you get the "whole thing" done faster.

Wait, you guys actually finish projects?

My garage is like a graveyard for broken dreams

I don't have any big projects.

Take SanFord for instance. SanFord isn't a project. SanFord is a large collection of small projects, that will someday come together to make a whole. I pick one little project every time I go out to the shop and move forward with it. On occasion I finish several in a day, and sometimes I don't get anything done for weeks.

And probably most important to me is to create a build thread and keep it updated. Any time you feel like you haven't made any progress, go back and reread your build thread. It does two things. It gives you a visual record of just how far you have come. It also re-inspires me to continue the project. A reminder, of the vision I saw when I started the process.

For instance. From SanFord's build thread. Page 1.

One year later, on page 25.

Just those two pictures make me want to go outside and continue.

I have a wife. I don't have to prioritize, she does it for me. If she doesn't instruct me to do something I get to spend the weekend doing what I think is important. Her priorities and mine don't always agree, but when it comes to cars keeping hers in top shape is #1 priority...

Apparently I jinxed myself as I ended up not leaving the office until after 6 and didn't get home until after 8.

Seeing guys like mazdeuce get so much stuff done working around 4 kids and a wife just makes it seem like I'm coming up with reasons not to get stuff done instead of actually doing it.

I do a lot of things, but I don't get much 'done'. My wife and I tore out a wall the very first evening we owned our home. We signed the papers, moved in a load of furniture, and sat down to revel in the fact that we were now homeowners. It took us 15 minutes to decide that we wanted to tear out a wall, so we did. The house has been a continuous project since then. 16 years and counting. The Grosh isn't done. The only cars that are done are the ones that aren't projects.
The thing is, I'm OK with this, and my wife is too for the most part. Projects are something I do. If I wrote someone a check to finish the house and the Grosh and sold all the cars and bought two brand new ones, I'd still need something to do, and I'd start a project.
Learning about things and working on them is part of who I am. I've always been this way even thought it took me the better part of four decades to really come to terms with it. The act of working on things makes me happy. That's why I have projects, and why I will always have projects.
The hardest part, as this whole thread is about, is prioritizing. Knowing when to set down the tools to help a kid with science fair. Washing up early to make a proper dinner instead of throwing fish sticks in the oven. I could have my kids ride the bus and gain two hours of work time a day, but I pick them so I can talk to them about their day, ask them about homework, help them with multiplication flash cards, that sort of thing. Projects are my life, but I try and make sure I put my life before my projects. Mrs. Deuce reads my build threads so she can figure out what I'm up to.