Most common mistakes to avoid before starting a new project in IT
By: Ashish Jain
Tags: Mistakes To Avoid, Scrum, It Project Management, Project Management, Kickstarter

Most common mistakes to avoid before starting a new project in IT Ashish Jain Sep 3·4 min read

All set to kick-start your new project, beware of these common mistakes

Poorly documented requirements

Well, this one is basic, right? How can you start a project with incomplete requirements? Not having clearly defined requirements can be disastrous for the future of the project. It can lead to wasted resources, time and effort, and lead to potential rework. Also, when you know in detail how a product should behave and what features it should contain, the project managers can come up with better and realistic project plans and estimates.

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No clear timeline, budget, and scope

You are excited about your project and want to kick-start it as soon as possible. That’s great, but initiating a project without discussing a timeline, budget and scope are like jumping into the dark unknown without knowing how deep it is. Well, for most projects, their timeline is quite important. Each project’s time-to-market also decides how it will be received by the consumers and contribute to its success.

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Cost is another super important dimension. It is often a finite quantity, and the investors, business stakeholders, are concerned about using the funds. There should be at least a ball-park budget estimate on the different heads and phases of the project before starting it.

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Scoping also becomes vital, as, at the start of the project, you would not want to overwhelm the development team if the scope is not clearly defined. Let’s take an example if you want to build a new streaming platform to rival Netflix and have thought of killer features, but one needs to prioritize which must-haves, which are good to have, and which one to implement first. Setting proper scope for different phases is essential for a planned rollout without burdening the team.

No common vision within the team

This can cause serious productivity issues, especially in projects with disturbed and cross-functional teams, unless all the teams work towards a common goal and align themselves with the core principles behind the product. Imagine if the business stakeholders and development teams are not communicating on the same lines, then how difficult it will be to manage it.

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Choosing unstable technologies

This one can be a rookie mistake. At the same time, it is good to explore upcoming technologies and experiment with them. But most of the time, any new technology needs time to mature and become stable. One should avoid choosing such novice platforms in your solution strategy. This helps you save time to fix unknown bugs in those platforms. Instead, choose other tested and reliable options.

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Not having someone with experience.

Well, this one may be a bit subjective. While in some cases, a highly motivated young team without any experience can do wonders. But, in most cases having someone with experience, especially at the start of a new project, will also help. The experienced leader can guide the team just like a captain does for a ship. The seasoned personnel will set the team in the right momentum, create a process that works for the team based on the experience.

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Based on my experience in the professional world as an IT engineer, these are the most common mistakes one should avoid before kickstarting any project.