Darren provides some sage advice for team leaders embarking on a software development project:
“First, find the things that will break you; Second, break them.”
This strategy has paid off well for me in the past where I define a set of risk mitigating prototypes to build. Typically these will include prototypes around all the systems that I may be integrating with as well as things that I think are a bit tricky.
Unfortunately – the people that are good at solving the hardest problems tend to be those who get bored with the simplest ones so as a team leader you need to recognise those characteristics in people and leverage them appropriately.