I try to be careful when accepting assignments, to avoid mutual disappointment. So, I started to come up with a list of things that I consider ingredients for The Ideal Project: (in no particular order)

What did I miss? What did I get wrong?

• Team size < 6 persons to avoid having too many meetings
• Team members must be dedicated to the project
• Gut-feeling-estimate (made by developers) of running period does not exceed 4 months. Projects longer than that tend to become open-ended, and are therefore not projects.
• Has a Product Owner who has mandate and is well-respected at their own company and who has a real interest in the long-term success of the project.
• Has no technical involvement from people that are not on the team. (yes that's you, Mr Architect That Doesn't Code)
• All the usual about quiet working conditions
• Exciting subject matter. Content management is just not as cool as controlling robots :)