Changing or Pivoting Projects

Caution

Changing or pivoting projects requires your instructors approval and might require finding a new project partner or mentor.

Although not recommended, unforeseen circumstances might lead you to pivot on your initial project idea, or completely change projects, such as:

• ill-defined requirements,
• failing product-market fit (e.g., lack of user value, too much competition, user base too large, major usability issues),
• technical feasibility or problem too hard,
• difficulty acquiring data,
• disagreement over IP terms,
• difficulty to market the product or game,
• diverging stakeholder feedback,
• irreparable conflict with your team or project partner.

Tip

When you start your project, we recommend that you do some form of product discovery as early as possible. The purpose of discovery is to address four critical risks:

• Will the customer buy this, or choose to use it? (value risk)
• Can the user figure out how to use it? (usability risk)
• Can we build it? (feasibility risk)
• Does this solution work for our organization? (“business” viability risk)

Depending on your project category, all risks might not apply in the same way.

Reference: M. Cagan, INSPIRED: how to create tech products customers love, Second edition. Hoboken: Wiley, 2017.

Your grade is primarily based on the project you present at each milestone, with consistent standards applied throughout. The later you change your project, the harder it becomes to regain momentum, increasing the risk to your grade.

Evaluating the Decision to Pivot

If you feel that your team is heading to a dead-end, speak up! The sooner you figure this out, the better it will turn out. Historically, teams that wait until Winter or Spring term to pivot struggle much more and decrease their success chance significantly.

• How will it affect the overall objectives of the project?
• Does the new direction aligns with the original goals or will it require redefining them?
• Did you meet with your project partner(s), mentor(s), TA(s), or instructors to discuss your concerns?
• Have you documented the elements leading to the pivot (or change of project)?

Planning the Pivot

Write down clear justifications and detailed rationale for the pivot. That includes the current path, the reasons it is not viable, and how the new direction addresses those issues.

Revise your project plan to outline the scope, timeline, resources, and roles for the pivoted project. Take into account the time constraint depending on where you stand in the academic year.

Pivoting or Changing Projects

Get the approval of your instructors and make sure your project partner(s) and mentor(s) are up-to-date. Communication is paramount. Your project partner(s) or mentor(s) are evaluating your work and it will not go well if they are kept in the dark.

Start over from whichever point is relevant to reach the desired outcome (you might need to go back to the drawing board). Note that, at that point, you will probably need to put extra effort into your project.

Abandoning a Project

This is an extremely rare case. More likely than not, there was serious oversight in the project and it won’t qualify.

You may receive some credit for a project that has been abandoned if substantial effort was invested in it, particularly if it was abandoned due to unforeseen external factors beyond your control that you couldn’t have reasonably anticipated.​ In that case, you’ll have to submit an exhaustive post-mortem to your instructors.