"There is always another part of the project you could be working on - even if it's mindnumbingly boring (like adding i18n)."
That, to me, sounds like a poor suggestion for this kind of problem. Anything that doesn't get you traction with your project, so that any users start yabbering for tweaks and progress to keep you motivated, are likely to be a mistake.
If the problem is that you're a front end developer running up against back end problems, then you need to be spotting this well in advance or else you're wasting time.
"There is always another part of the project you could be working on - even if it's mindnumbingly boring (like adding i18n)."
That, to me, sounds like a poor suggestion for this kind of problem. Anything that doesn't get you traction with your project, so that any users start yabbering for tweaks and progress to keep you motivated, are likely to be a mistake.
If the problem is that you're a front end developer running up against back end problems, then you need to be spotting this well in advance or else you're wasting time.