Managing Multiple Projects as a Solo Developer

Right now I'm actively working on..

• Apatero (live, needs monetization work)
• Life OS (in development)
• Rembiti (early stage)
• Travel Tracker (in development)
• This blog (ongoing content)
• A collab project with a friend (on hold)

That's a lot of projects for one person.

I'm not going to pretend I've mastered this. Some weeks I make great progress on everything. Some weeks I feel like I'm spinning plates and accomplishing nothing.

But I've developed strategies that help. Here's how I actually manage multiple projects without losing my mind.

The Problem: Equal Attention Doesn't Work

The naive approach is to work on everything a little bit.

Monday: Apatero. Tuesday: Life OS. Wednesday: Rembiti. And so on.

This feels productive because you're touching everything. But it's actually the worst strategy.

Why equal attention fails..

Context switching kills productivity. Every time you switch projects, you need to reload context. Remember where you left off. Understand the codebase again. Get into the right headspace. That takes time, often 30-60 minutes before you're truly productive.

No project gets meaningful progress. 2 hours on something doesn't move it forward much. You need sustained focus to make real breakthroughs.

Everything feels stalled. When every project moves at a snail's pace, motivation tanks. You feel busy but not productive.

The solution isn't working on everything equally. It's strategic focus.

Strategy 1: One Primary Focus (With Maintenance Mode for Others)

At any given time, one project is the primary focus.

That project gets 60-80% of my development time. It's what I'm actively building, actively thinking about, actively pushing forward.

Everything else goes into maintenance mode.

Maintenance mode means..

• Fix critical bugs if they appear
• Keep it running if it's in production
• Don't add new features
• Don't spend mental energy on it

Example: My current focus allocation..

• Apatero (primary) - Active development, monetization priority
• Life OS - 1-2 sessions per week, making slow progress
• Rembiti - Paused for now, just learning Go when I have time
• Travel Tracker - Paused, will pick up after Apatero monetizes
• Blog - Maintenance mode, one post when I have something to say

This focus isn't permanent. It rotates. But at any moment, I know what the priority is.

Strategy 2: Scheduled Rotation

Staying on one project forever doesn't work either.

You get bored. You lose perspective. You need variety to stay creative. Some projects have dependencies (waiting on feedback, waiting on external factors) that make continuous work impossible.

I rotate focus on roughly monthly cycles.

Not rigid calendar months. More like "when I hit a natural stopping point" or "when I start dreading the current project."

Signs it's time to rotate..

• Shipped a significant milestone
• Stuck on a hard problem that needs to marinate
• Motivation dropping noticeably
• Another project has become urgent
• Been on the same project for 6+ weeks

When I rotate..

The old primary goes to maintenance mode. A new project becomes primary. I reassess priorities and decide what deserves focus next.

This keeps things fresh while still allowing deep work on each project.

Strategy 3: Clear Priority Tiers

Not all projects are equal. Some matter more than others.

I categorize projects into tiers..

Tier 1: Revenue potential. Projects that can make money. These get priority when I need to focus on sustainability.

Tier 2: Personal need. Projects I'll actually use myself. High motivation, high learning value.

Tier 3: Learning/exploration. Projects that teach me something but don't have clear outcomes.

Tier 4: Nice to have. Ideas I'd like to pursue if I had infinite time.

How tiers affect decisions..

When I'm deciding what to work on, Tier 1 projects get priority. When Tier 1 projects are stuck or done, I move to Tier 2. Tier 3 and 4 only happen when I have genuine surplus time (rare).

My current tier assignments..

• Tier 1: Apatero (live product, needs revenue)
• Tier 2: Life OS, Rembiti, Travel Tracker (personal use + learning)
• Tier 3: Blog (content marketing, learning)
• Tier 4: Game dev experiments (someday maybe)

This hierarchy makes decisions easier. When in doubt, work on higher tier projects.

Strategy 4: Accept That Projects Will Pause

This was hard to accept.

I used to feel guilty when a project sat untouched for months. Like I was abandoning it. Like I was failing.

The reality..

You're one person. You have finite time. Some projects will pause. That's not failure. That's prioritization.

A paused project isn't dead. It's waiting. When priorities shift, when you have more capacity, it's still there.

What "paused" means in practice..

• No active development
• No mental energy spent on it
• No guilt about not working on it
• Will resume when it makes sense

I have projects that have been paused for 6+ months. Some will never resume. That's okay. The decision to pause is itself valuable. It frees up mental space for what matters now.

Strategy 5: Separate Maintenance from Development

Live projects need ongoing work. Bug fixes. User support. Server issues.

This is different from development work. It's reactive, not proactive. It interrupts flow.

How I handle maintenance..

Batching. I check for issues at set times (morning, end of day), not constantly. Unless something is critical, it waits for the batch.

Quick fixes vs. deep work. Some maintenance tasks are 5 minutes. Handle them in batch time. If something requires deep focus, it goes on the development queue and competes with other priorities.

Expectation setting. If you have users, set expectations about response times. I aim for "within 24 hours" for issues, not instant response. That gives me uninterrupted development blocks.

Maintenance shouldn't dominate.

If you're spending all your time maintaining instead of building, something is wrong. Either the product needs fundamental fixing, or you need to say no to lower-tier projects.

Strategy 6: Weekly Reviews

Every week, I do a quick review.

Questions I ask..

• What did I actually accomplish this week?
• What's the priority for next week?
• Should my primary focus change?
• Are there any urgent items I'm ignoring?
• Am I spreading too thin?

This takes 30 minutes, usually Sunday.

The review keeps me honest. It's easy to feel productive without making progress. The review forces me to confront reality.

If the answer to "what did I accomplish" is "nothing substantial," that's a signal. Too much context switching. Too many projects demanding attention. Time to refocus.

Strategy 7: Learn to Say No (To Yourself)

The hardest part of managing multiple projects is saying no to new ones.

Every week I have ideas. "What if I built X?" "That would be a cool project." "I could probably do Y in a weekend."

Most of these ideas need to die.

Not because they're bad ideas. Because you can only do so much. Every new project dilutes focus on existing ones.

My filter for new projects..

• Does this replace something on my list, or add to it?
• What would I stop working on to do this?
• Is this excitement sustainable, or just novelty?
• Does this move me toward my goals, or distract from them?

If a new idea survives this filter, it goes on a "someday maybe" list. If it still seems compelling in a month, maybe I'll consider it.

Most ideas don't survive a month of waiting. They were shiny objects, not genuine opportunities.

What Doesn't Work

I've tried other approaches. Here's what failed for me.

Strict daily schedules. "2 hours on A, 2 hours on B, 1 hour on C." Context switching overhead made this unproductive.

Working on whatever feels exciting. Fun in the short term. No project ever finished.

Treating all projects as equal priority. Everything moved slowly, motivation dropped.

Never pausing anything. Guilt about "abandoning" projects led to spreading too thin.

Saying yes to every new idea. The project list grew faster than I could ship.

Your mileage may vary. But for me, focused rotation with clear priorities works better than any other approach I've tried.

The Reality Check

Let me be honest.

Even with all these strategies, managing multiple projects is hard. Some weeks I still feel overwhelmed. Some months, progress is slower than I want.

But I'm still making progress. Projects are moving forward. Things are shipping. That's what matters.

The alternative, working on one project until it's completely done, doesn't work for me either.

I need variety. I need multiple creative outlets. I need the ability to step away from something frustrating and work on something energizing.

Multiple projects isn't a problem to solve. It's a reality to manage.

Practical Takeaways

If you're juggling multiple projects, try these..

Define one primary focus. Right now. What's the most important project? That gets the majority of your time.

Put everything else in maintenance mode. Explicitly. Tell yourself "Rembiti is paused until February." The clarity helps.

Schedule rotation points. Don't switch projects daily. Commit to weeks or months on your primary focus.

Do weekly reviews. 30 minutes to assess what's actually happening. Adjust as needed.

Say no to new ideas. At least for now. You have enough on your plate.

Accept imperfection. Some projects will stall. Some will get less attention than they deserve. That's okay. You're one person doing the work of many.

The goal isn't perfect balance. It's making meaningful progress on things that matter while staying sane.

That's achievable. Even with five projects. Even alone.

FAQ

How many projects is too many?

Depends on their complexity and your available time. For me, 2-3 active projects (one primary, 1-2 secondary) with a few in maintenance mode feels manageable. More than that, and nothing moves fast enough.

What if all my projects feel equally important?

They're not. Force yourself to rank them. If you truly can't decide, pick the one with the nearest deadline or the one closest to shipping.

How do I handle motivation slumps on my primary project?

Take a short break to work on something else. A day or two, not weeks. The variety can restore motivation. But don't use "motivation" as an excuse to avoid hard work.

Should I finish projects before starting new ones?

Ideally yes. But "finished" is relative. Shipped and working? That's finished enough. Don't wait for perfect to start something new.

How do you remember where you left off after pausing?

Good commit messages. Brief notes before stepping away. "TODO.md" files in repos. It takes 5 minutes to write "Here's where I stopped and what comes next." Future you will be grateful.