Alla Gringaus's Profile

Of course, even with a good design and early involvement in the process, occasionally you’ll still lose your inspiration near the end of a large project. You can, however, fight this by doing a few simple things. For example, re-factoring code, while it sounds boring and time-consuming, can add a great boost to motivation. There’s nothing better than simplifying a method or class only to realize that new functionality you’ve yet to write is even easier to implement. And clients never grow tired of performance increases, which is an added bonus.

Another simple way to maintain motivation is to interact with the client on a regular basis. Many developers (myself included) have a habit of developing “heads down” (or as I like to say, “going dark”), which can be alienating and will eventually affect the project more than one might realize. By having regular interaction with the client—if only to show progress and talk about what you’re doing—you’ll find yourself far more engaged with the project and the outcome. When a client interacts with developers on a regular basis they get more and more excited about the product you’re building for them, and that excitement can easily rub off on you.