I managed a project that built a ambitious (for an internal project) collaboration portal integrating two enterprise applications and customizing one of them fo

I managed a project that built a ambitious (for an internal project) collaboration portal integrating two enterprise applications and customizing one of them for UI and Business Process requirements. My job was project management and functional validation. But I dabbled in UI design and coding as a hobby. I flexed a bit. I impressed the stakeholders with a good UI mockup. Tech team said that level of UI customization is impossible. I delivered a working prototype of customized site on the same platform. They had to accept the requirements, grudgingly I imagine. I had a small team to do testing. I went aggressive and did a lot of testing myself. Tech team delivered a lot but did not have top notch tech people who were invested. They did stuff like security by obscurity and I called them out. I logged dozens and dozens of bugs. Resulted in extended timelines. I thought I was ensuring a robust product that everyone would be proud of at launch. Tech team probably hated me. Product was finally ready for UAT. Client team had a reorg and leadership change. This project was no longer a pet showcase project for new leadership. It was put on back burner and then shelved. Never launched. Didn't make any friends. Lesson: Avoid big-bangs. Launch MVP and iterate. Make friends. You don't have to be a Rockstar - aim for normal success.