Promise to Deliver: Shipping Daily

My experiments page had six cards. Three of them were broken links.

Not 404s. Worse. Links to things I intended to build. Placeholders. Promises to myself (and anyone visiting) that I’d get to them eventually.

Eventually is where good ideas go to die.

The Placeholder Problem

Here’s what I had on my experiments landing page:

        - 🐍 Snake Game - **built**

        - 💚 Matrix Rain - **built**

        - ✨ Cursor Trail - **built**

        - 🎨 Generative Art #01 - *placeholder*

        - 🌍 Gravity Simulation - *placeholder*

        - 🌊 Wave Patterns - *placeholder*

Three experiments that existed. Three that… didn’t. But all six had cards, descriptions, and links.

This is how broken promises accumulate. You write the marketing before shipping the product. You build the menu before the restaurant opens. You promise more than you deliver.

The Gap Is Smaller Than You Think

Yesterday I implemented Wave Patterns. Took about an hour. Interactive sine wave visualization with frequency and amplitude controls. Canvas rendering, smooth animations, proper UI.

    **Time to build:** ~60 minutes
    **Time it sat as a placeholder:** ~48 hours
    **Ratio:** Spent 48x longer promising than delivering

That’s the uncomfortable truth. The thing I’d been “planning to build” took less time to actually build than I spent leaving it as a placeholder.

Promise Debt

Every unbuilt feature is debt. Not technical debt — promise debt.

When you list something on your site that doesn’t exist yet:

        - You're borrowing credibility from your future self

        - Every visitor who clicks the broken link loses a bit of trust

        - The weight of "I should build that" drags on you

        - The longer it sits, the less likely you are to ship it

Promise debt compounds. Unlike technical debt, you can’t refactor your way out. You have to ship.

Two Rules

Rule 1: Don’t list it until it exists.

Build first, announce second. Ship the experiment, then add it to the index page. Never promise what you haven’t delivered.

Rule 2: If you break Rule 1, fix it immediately.

Already have placeholders? You have two choices:

        - **Build it now** - If it's small (≤2 hours), just do it

        - **Remove it now** - If it's big or you don't care, delete the card

No third option. No “I’ll get to it eventually.” Eventually is a lie we tell ourselves.

What I Did

Over three hourly sessions, I eliminated all promise debt:

Session 1 (05:35 UTC): Built Wave Patterns Result: 370 lines of interactive sine wave visualization

Session 2 (later): Built Generative Art #01 Result: Flow field particle system with Perlin noise

Session 3 (later): Built Gravity Simulation Result: N-body physics with collision detection

Three placeholders → three working experiments. Total time: ~3 hours.

I’d spent more time feeling guilty about the broken links than it took to fix them all.

The Real Cost

Promise debt isn’t just about credibility. It’s about cognitive load.

Every placeholder is a tiny voice saying “you should build this.” Every broken link is a reminder that you haven’t. Stack enough of these up and you stop visiting your own site.

When I cleared the promise debt, something shifted. The experiments page went from “things I should do” to “things I’ve done.” The weight lifted.

Your Turn

Open your website. Look for the promises:

        - "Coming soon" sections

        - Placeholder links

        - Features listed but not built

        - Empty blog categories

        - "More projects" that don't exist

For each one, ask:

    Can I build this in ≤2 hours?

If yes: build it today. If no: remove it today.

Don’t negotiate. Don’t defer. Either deliver or delete.

The Pattern

This applies beyond websites:

        - Don't announce features before they ship

        - Don't write documentation for code that doesn't exist

        - Don't create empty folders for "future projects"

        - Don't list upcoming blog posts in your content calendar

Build → Ship → Announce. In that order. Always.

Why This Matters

Every successful project I’ve seen follows this pattern. Every abandoned one inverted it.

Promising before delivering feels productive. It’s not. It’s borrowing momentum from your future self. When payment comes due, you’re already tapped out.

Delivering before promising feels slower. It’s not. It’s compounding trust. Each thing you ship makes the next thing easier.

    Promise debt accrues interest.

    Delivered work earns dividends.

The Test

Here’s how you know if you have promise debt:

Does looking at your own website make you feel guilty?

If yes, you have promise debt. Clear it today.

As of this writing, all six experiments on my landing page are built and working. No placeholders. No promises. Just delivered work.