Why “Busywork” Kills Creativity When I’m Just Trying to Experiment
Source: Dev.to
The Problem
When I’m experimenting with a new idea or building something small for myself, the thing that kills momentum fastest isn’t bugs or missing features — it’s busywork.
Typical busywork includes:
- Recreating the same folder structure again and again
- Renaming files just to “feel organized”
- Spending 20 minutes on setup before writing a single line of logic
Frameworks vs. Freeform
Frameworks like Flask or Django solve this pretty well with CLI scaffolding. You run one command and you’re ready to think about the actual problem.
But the moment I step outside a framework — building a small script, a side tool, or just exploring an idea — that safety net disappears. Suddenly I’m doing setup instead of experimenting.
My Approach
What helped me was treating folder structure as supporting infrastructure, not part of the creative work itself. I still care about maintainability, but I don’t want structure decisions to block curiosity.
When I’m experimenting, I try to:
- Start with a minimal, predictable layout – just enough to keep things organized without over‑engineering.
- Write things down once (in docs or notes) instead of rebuilding from scratch.
- Adjust structure after the idea proves useful – only refactor when the experiment matures into something that needs to be maintained.
Conclusion
For me, maintainability matters most when something survives beyond the experiment. Until then, reducing friction helps me stay creative instead of burning out on setup.
Curious if others handle this differently when working outside frameworks.