One Benefit of Side Projects

I recently started a new, just-for-fun project. I've always heard of the benefits of having these little side projects but I rarely do anything with them because of how busy my life is right now. Since starting this project, though, I've noticed a few benefits of having a side project that's pertinent to the things I work on at work.

Just recently, ThoughtWorks released the latest version of their Technology Radar. Like many others, I enjoy reviewing their radar and seeing some of the current trends in the software landscape. One of the items that caught my attention was Lightweight Architecture Decision Records. In their description of it, they link to an article describing it and a tool that can be used to generate the records they're referring to. I liked the sound of it and I wanted to try it out. It sounded like my work could benefit from this technique.

However, at work we follow a similar approach to the ThoughtWorks technology radar. We like to evaluate things and trial new technologies before using them in production code or projects. So, if I wanted to try this technique and tool out, it couldn't be in any of the repositories at work.

Enter my side project.

This side project was a great place to use this tool and test out this new technique for documenting decisions on this project. Because I had this project, I had an easy place to try out a new tool and a new technique. Honestly, I don't do much work on this side project. I made it with the explicit intention of just learning some of the new JavaScript features. I only "work" on it when I feel like it, but I'm finding it's a great place to try things out. Whether it's new techniques or other features of JavaScript or cool sounding tools, I have a safe place to try things out without impacting work or needing to wait for approval for using a tool.

Maybe you already know this and maybe you don't. Maybe you're one that always has a handful of side projects you're actively working on at any given time and maybe you're not. Wherever you're at with this, I'd encourage you to create a project on something you're interested in that can be a place for you to try things out like this.

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