10 red flags that shout 'Stay away from this project!'

Like most consultants, you’ve probably gotten stuck on a doomed project at one time or another. But if you know what to watch out for, you can avoid getting mired in a project mess.

Over time, I have been involved in some of the worst projects ever as a freelancer, consultant, or some other “non-employee” relationship. When you are a direct hire to a company, you do not have the freedom to pick and choose what you work on. But as an outside person being paid to work specifically on one project, you do have the choice. I have been burned so many times it isn’t funny, but I have learned a lot from my mistakes. Here are 10 of the biggest red flags I’ve encountered. I am sure you have more to share in the discussion thread.

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1: No clear spec or goals

All too often, I’ve been approached to work on a project, but the person trying to arrange the deal can’t tell me what they really need done. It’s not that they are under some strange code of silence. They really have no clue what they want. They have a general idea of what the finished product should look like and a really good understanding of its differentiating factors or killer features, but outside of that they have not thought it through. This is one of the most common and most significant danger signs! How many hours’ worth of work do you want to throw away on a regular basis because the client realized after you built it that what they asked for wasn’t what they needed? At the very least, these kinds of projects should be contracted only at a per-hour rate.

2: Funding problems
3: Product pre-sold to a client
4: Spending money in the wrong places
5: A long string of previous consultants
6: The wrong workers

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