Spotify’s Design Lead on Why Side Projects Should Be Stupid

If you take what you're doing too seriously, you're likely to squeeze the life out of it. Here's a guide to letting your projects stay stupid and fun.

Tobias van Schneider lives his life like one big side project. Today, he designs and builds new products for Spotify in New York, but he couldn’t have predicted that when he dropped out of school at age 15 to work as an apprentice in a computer shop in Austria. The idea of “side projects” became a foundational myth in the tech world. Products like Gmail, Craigslist, and even Post-Its can trace their roots back to work discovered and developed on the side. This is great, but not if it becomes a cliche. His argument: In order for side projects to truly succeed, they have to be stupid.

Let Yourself be Stupid

“The only way a side project will work is if people give themselves permission to think simple, to change their minds, to fail — basically, to not take them too seriously,” says van Schneider. “When you treat something like it’s stupid, you have fun with it, you don’t put too much structure around it. You can enjoy different types of success.”

Most of the side projects we point to as huge successes were never intended to be anything more than experiments. When you think about it, side projects are great because you don’t need to know anything. You get to be a beginner because no one is watching you and there are no expectations.

Take It One Step at a Time

Side projects are simple. The advice he gives is to keep things as basic as possible for as long as possible. “Think of the very, very first step you would take to realize your idea,” he says. The benefit here is that you’re prevented from overthinking and killing your buzz.

My first piece of advice is to just fucking do it.

“A lot of people ask themselves questions until they're so scared of the future they'll never do anything new.”

Ditch Your Obsession with Growth

Side projects aren’t about rapid scale. Van Schneider emphasizes the importance of doing what you love and enjoying the journey instead of solely focusing on growth. Remember, success also comes in the form of learning new things and feeling personally fulfilled.

Trust Yourself More

“When you feel real ownership for a project, you become more confident in your decisions,” says van Schneider. “You might change your plan and that’s okay. You are always right when it’s your project.”

“When someone tells me I can't do something, I say, 'Thank you, now I'm definitely going to do it.'”

How Companies Can Support Stupid Side Projects

While larger companies like Google can build time for this into people’s jobs on a regular basis, more and more startups are providing time in the form of hack weeks and hack days. At Spotify, they host week-long hackathons which are basically paid vacations during which people can hack on anything they want.

“Humanity is trying so hard to measure everything. We have to resist this attitude.”

“If people find the time and have great ideas, they will do it anyway. They will be gone.”

Creating a ‘Side Projects’ Culture

The most successful companies in the future will be the ones that respect the creative aspect of work. Van Schneider landed his current job through connections stemming from a side project that he was deeply passionate about. Documenting and sharing these projects can lead to greater opportunities and innovations.

“At the end, people's greatest side projects are themselves and their careers.”