Why it’s so easy to let scope sprawl out of control during personal projects? I think it’s mostly because I think quality is king. When I work on a project for myself, I insist on getting it just right. This is not good for me, it lends a helping hand to scope creep. Always there saying “It’s OK, just another feature wouldn’t hurt”, but it always does. Clearly the ever-so-helpful triangle should apply to every project. But, It is my personal projects that creep my scope out the most. Here is why:
One, I don’t know if I’ll make any money. Two, I honestly don’t know how long it will take to complete the task. Three, If I can have all the features, I would take them. That makes three completely unknown sides of the triangle. What am do to? If I need to include more features, the time and budget must flex to compensate. However, I think recognizing that during the process and adjusting takes experience.
The only goal I consistently respect is quality. Which sounds noble, and should be honored, but I question at what cost? Should I pull out every stop to maintain pristine quality? I feel like that ought to be something to strive for, but very difficult to achieve. Maybe it’s like practice: it makes perfect… but nobody’s perfect, so why practice? So it all comes down to why design anything? I don’t know, but I can’t stop the cycle now. Back to work.
