Ask HN: How do you know what you're working on is worth working on?

Re:Ask HN: How do you know what you're working on is worth w... by IntelliAvatar on Wednesday December 17, 2025 @07:23AM (#46301166)

For me, one signal has been whether the problems remain interesting even when progress is slow.

When working on complex systems (like anything involving long-running automation or agents), most of the real work happens in areas that don’t show up in demos: defining “done”, handling partial failures, and keeping behavior predictable.

If those problems are still worth thinking about after repeated failures, I take that as a sign the work itself is worth continuing.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you know what you're working on is worth w... by ideavo on Wednesday December 17, 2025 @09:32PM (#46308327)

That resonates a lot.

I’ve noticed the same thing: if the shape of the problem is still interesting after the novelty wears off and progress stalls, that’s usually the real signal. The visible demo work is easy; the hard part is exactly what you said—defining “done,” handling edge cases, and making systems behave consistently under stress. If those invisible constraints keep pulling you back, it’s usually because there’s something fundamentally worth building there.

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Re:Ask HN: How do you know what you're working on is worth w... by IntelliAvatar on Thursday December 18, 2025 @07:42AM (#46311951)

Exactly. I’ve also found that once those constraints become boring, that’s usually when the work itself is done — or not worth doing anymore.

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