I once dug a dakota hole when it was really windy. The problem that I encountered but didn't plan on was ROOTS. It took a long time to dig a little one foot by one foot hole because I had to cut my way through what seemed like miles of roots. I had already set up my camp site, so I couldn't pick a better place to dig.
Once I got it dug and lit (lighting was a little more difficult than a normal fire) it worked great. Great way to cook.