Our client, Oitoo, is a collective of architects who work on several fronts which includes a focus on reuse and reactivation of spaces and territories. They initiated “Becos Com Saida” — a social project to stop deterioration of forgotten, unused buildings and also further creating opportunities for local communities to grow and socialize.
After months of working in a team, we were faced with the harsh reality that the project may be above our paygrade. Our team disbanded, but I decided to stay on the project and give it my best shot. Personally, it was not an appealing option to simply leave the project and cease all development and support.I joined the project with great enthusiasm, but buried within this enthusiasm, however, was the harsh reality that many new developers fail. The key question was whether continuing as the sole development was a solution or simply a delay of the inevitable? Could I fix any and every bug I find? Will I be able to ensure that the product works on new operating systems?
The nuance of this situation is that I didn't have the experience to judge if I was working on a failing project or not. The only key factor I can confidently use to determine whether I should have left this project is the weight of its burden on me.
Common sense would argue, that if I could not afford the technical or resources burden of continuing the project, then my best option might be to close the project. But if I decide to close the project, I am saying that it had proved to be too much of a burden on me and I would be better off without it. This was not the case. The relationship I had with the project was personal.
So with all that being said, I continued with the project at my pace and this is what I made: