How do you know when to close a project?

Question

Hey, I built the project for a year. I invested many hours in it, and it worked out great. A bunch of people use it, and a bunch of people write plugins for it. However, since then I switched to different languages, different styles, the code base is dirty and hacker, and I'm not sure that I want to continue working within the framework in which I built it.

When do you know that you have to close the project and move on?

Answer 1

Once you have lost inspiration, and the project begins to get bored, and you are to such an extent that you cannot get much or more experience from the project, time for its transition. If the project code is too screwed to fix it, then time to move. If people use it, and people write plugins for it, I personally create an open source project and will pass it on to the community to continue, otherwise we just finish it.

Find a new maintainer as he is already open. Ask for a volunteer. If they like it, they will probably start the opportunity to save it.

Answer 2

If you no longer want to work on it. Have you considered opening the source so that the user community can continue to support it if they want to?

Answer 3

If you are sure that you are ready to leave the project, you can do this, but first you should consider your users. They still find this useful; they contributed hours to write plugins.

So, your first imperative is to make sure that those who want to use what they find useful can still do it and still can improve it. Therefore, ask a volunteer to take on a project or group. Provide them with the source and your honest assessment of where the flaws are and what needs to be done to correct them (rewrite).

If you just close the project, you will make many people unhappy with those who are currently happy with you - that would be stupid. It is easy to make enemies without leaving your path to alienate people who otherwise will respect your decision.

Answer 4

Are you sure that you will not be able to get more valuable experience / knowledge from working on this project? Why not redefine it in the language / platform of your choice, thereby making it a learning experience?

Answer 5

I would say that if you are going to spend more time rewriting and trying to get around your current structure and then start from scratch with a better design and plan, then this is a good time to go.

I think it really depends on your motivation for the project. If this is purely financial, you can conduct a direct cost analysis. If it was for hobbies or training, you can move on, even if it would be easier to stay with the current project.