Slide 1
Slide 1 text
LEARNING FROM MY SIDE
PROJECT MISTAKES
Jonathan Fielding ○ HalfStack London 2024 ○ All my links at jonathan
fi
eld.in
Slide 2
Slide 2 text
💡
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
💡
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
💡
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
💡
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
💡
🗑
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
HAVE A CLEAR GOAL
FROM THE START
“Why am I building this again?”
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
CASE STUDY
Shopping Mindful
🛍
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
Establish a clear purpose
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
Set Concrete, Measurable Goals
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
PERFECTIONISM IS
THE ENEMY
Spending hours on a login page… for a project that
does nothing else yet.
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
CASE STUDY
ActionMetrics
📊
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
Avoid Getting Lost in the Details
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
Embrace an MVP Mentality
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
Iterate and Improve
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
SCOPE CREEP
IS SNEAKY
When “simple” projects become
bloated.
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
CASE STUDY
EventFocus
🎤
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
Keep the Initial Scope Small
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
Resist the Temptation to keep Adding
Features
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
Expand Gradually After Validation
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
FEEDBACK MATTERS…
BUT NOT TOO MUCH
Listen, but don’t let the crowd steer your ship.
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
CASE STUDY
PerformanceBudget.io
🏎
Slide 23
Slide 23 text
Seek Early Feedback
Slide 24
Slide 24 text
But Beware of Feedback Overload
Slide 25
Slide 25 text
AVOID TECH STACK
PARALYSIS
Wasting 3 hours on whether to use React or Vue.
Vercel or Kubernetes
Slide 26
Slide 26 text
CASE STUDY
PerfBadger
🦡
Slide 27
Slide 27 text
Decision Overload is Real
Slide 28
Slide 28 text
Stick to Familiar and Sustainable Tools
Slide 29
Slide 29 text
Make a Decision and Move Forward
Slide 30
Slide 30 text
PROPRIETARY TECH IS A
SLIPPERY SLOPE
Firebase seemed like a great idea… until it wasn’t.
Slide 31
Slide 31 text
CASE STUDY
ActionMetrics
📊
Slide 32
Slide 32 text
Avoid tech that locks you in.
Slide 33
Slide 33 text
Requires you to learn non-
transferable skills
Slide 34
Slide 34 text
Security risks
Slide 35
Slide 35 text
DON’T POUR MONEY INTO
IDEAS YOU HAVEN’T
VALIDATED
Keep your spending under control
Slide 36
Slide 36 text
CASE STUDY
Domains and
Infrastructure
🪜
Slide 37
Slide 37 text
Avoid Unnecessary Upfront Costs
Slide 38
Slide 38 text
Be Mindful of ‘Sunk Cost
’
Mentality
Slide 39
Slide 39 text
WRAPPING-UP
Final advice from someone who’s still
fi
guring it out.
Photo by Marvin Meyer on Unsplash
Slide 40
Slide 40 text
Progress > Perfection
Slide 41
Slide 41 text
Stay True to Your Vision
Slide 42
Slide 42 text
Use technologies you already know
Slide 43
Slide 43 text
Don
’
t throw all your money at it
Slide 44
Slide 44 text
In the end, I learnt a lot from these
mistakes