The last few percent

There’s a particular exhaustion that shows up right at the end of a long running project. Not the “I did it!” kind, more the “finally found the last squeaky board that’s been mocking me for months” kind. You close a few loops, the docs almost make sense, and the thing behaves the way you promised it would, which is honestly more surprising than it should be.

The funny part is how much learning’s packed into that last stretch. The core work was done weeks ago, or was it months? I’ve lost track. Yet the last polish forces you to read your own code like a stranger who clearly had no idea what they were doing. I always find one more edge case I should’ve handled earlier, and I always pretend I’m surprised by it, even though we both know I’m not.

What I like most is that it stretches me just enough to make me feel like I should’ve done better the first time. I end up tightening the scripts, trimming the rough spots that past-me left behind like breadcrumbs of incompetence, and pushing my bounds a bit more because apparently I didn’t push hard enough before. It’s a small win, but it’s the kind that makes the next problem less intimidating, even if it also makes you wonder why you didn’t just do it right the first time.

If you’re in that phase right now, I’m cheering for you. Take the extra hour, test the small stuff, and enjoy the moment when the project stops feeling like a to do list and starts feeling like a tool you can trust. At least until the next bug shows up and you realize you were wrong about being done.