By Seongmin Park โ€”

T-shirt Driven Development

Dress less ship more.

Hi guys.

Actually โ€“ hi kids.

You wouldn't know, but there was a time when tech forums were not filled with endless discussions on AI Chaaasm, Newly Kindled Joy of Agent Coding, and A Hundred Landing Pages With Vibe Coded Card UIs.

Back then, all everyone cared about was productivity hacks. Specifically one of two flavors:

  • "How I make $5k per month with this side hustle (which this blog article coincidentally is a major part of)", or
  • "How do you keep yourself motivated in your side projects?" always followed by comments affirming variations of "done is better than perfect".

But guys. I couldn't finish writing my own post on the latter before you all moved on to LLMs. So please.. let me wedge in this little blog post here for one last time.. There. Thanks team.

So I have this great productivity hack that actually helps you to finish your side projects. It's a well-crafted plan that doesn't require self-discipline. Because we're out of that.

I call it T-shirt driven development.

How it works

It's simple. You don't buy new clothes until you reach a milestone in your project.

  1. You probably buy new clothes in preparation for the changing season. Don't. Just don't. The more scrappy and sad your wardrobe is, the better.
  2. Promise yourself you'll never buy any new shirts until you reach a project milestone. Like shipping.
  3. Inconvenience (or humiliate) yourself in many social occasions because you only have out-of-season clothes.
  4. Come home and work your ass off.
  5. When you do reach that milestone, celebrate your achievement by printing custom t-shirts and other merch for your project!

We replace the need for self-discipline with an aversion to inconvenience, which lazy people have in abundance. It's easier that way.

This also has an added benefit of repping your side project wherever you go.

Wear it till it wears out. Rinse and repeat.

Why it works

Your tendency to shy away from inconvenience โ€“ and thus from self-discipline โ€“ is the same tendency that keeps you from going without clothes.

So either you have enough self-discipline that you don't need this, or you don't, in which case it'll work anyway.

A bit barbaric, yes. But it works!

Am I afraid someone on the subway will think I am a corporate kiss-ass when they see me wearing these t-shirts? You bet.

But such is the weight we carry as proponents of free and open software.