The Curse of the "Next Generation Project"

The "Next Generation Project" in the tech world promises excitement, vision, and a hopeful future. It's a bold pledge to eradicate all of the past generation's issues through innovation and best practices.

Throughout my career, I've done many "Next Generation Projects," with a mixture of successes and failures. In this article I will call out a few ani-patterns that might correlate with their outcomes.

1. Inertia of the Next Generation:

The curse is the inertia of antiquated ideas. Numerous products launched with superb ideas and valuable customer propositions, but over time, these concepts became clichéd and the value outdated. A prime example is the post-2007 iPhone era, where launching another Blackberry phone with a QWERTY keyboard was a hopeless attempt to hold on to past glories. Each generation of product X carries the momentum of its predecessor. Sometimes, a revolutionary product is needed instead of an evolution.

1. Lack of Focus, Absence of Success Metrics:

This curse is characterized by a lack of clear focus and missing success metrics. Without specific targets, efforts scatter, causing the project to deviate from its original mission. Refactoring without clear value measurement or a flashy new architecture for buzzword's sake exemplify this curse.

1. Attempting Too Much at Once, Lack of Iteration:

This curse refers to the urge to deliver a comprehensive solution in a single shot. Such an approach often results in extended timelines and unforeseen challenges, resulting in a delayed and possibly irrelevant product. The remedy is adopting the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) concept, allowing the market to access the product faster and facilitating fast user feedback loop.

1. Excessive 'Best Practices' and Bleeding Edge Technologies Over Incremental Customer Value:

The curse here is over-reliance on so-called best practices and bleeding edge technologies, often sidelining the critical aspect of delivering incremental customer value. Best practices and new technologies, while important, should not override customer needs and preferences. Keep it simple, involving customers and stakeholders in the development process and focusing on delivering continuous, incremental value is vital.

A 'Next Generation Project' can become a curse if these anti-patterns are not consciously avoided. As we dash into an exciting 'Next Generation Project', keep these anti-patterns in mind to ensure it's a 'Next Generation Success' and not another 'Next Generation Failure'.