I'm new to dovetail jointery. I'm making blind dovetails for drawer.

The dovetails were fine, the trouble was getting consistant cuts where the
front and sides were exactly flush at the top and bottom. The side would be
slightly higher than the front or vice versa. Also some chip-out on the
last dovetail.

My solution is to make my drawer blanks over sized, then cut the dovetails,
then cut the front and sides even and down to the correct size.

Am I cheating or is this a common practice?