Why do software projects fail and how to prevent it?

Why do software projects fail and how to prevent it?

When you’re looking to grow, it’s very important to focus on detecting growth opportunities and work on business development. However, you can’t do this if you’re constantly solving development and software projects’ issues and you’re simply all over the place.

Even with many factors contributing to the failure of a software project, there are still ways to ensure the success of a project by analyzing and identifying issues and working towards them. Most businesses fail to analyze and identify these issues, and rather tend to overlook them.

One of the most common reasons for software project failure is a lack of focus. In fact, 25% of apps downloaded are abandoned after the first use. That’s why you should be really careful when you’re choosing the team that will develop your app.

When your core product is based on software, you can’t afford to fail. No matter if you’re creating a digital wallet, a SaaS app, or a new social network, you should be aware of the potential pitfalls ahead and be attentive with every phase of the software development process.

What are the reasons for software projects failure?

Unclear software projects specifications

A lot of managers and executives don’t explain project specifications clearly from the beginning. They give developers too much space to hesitate whether certain features are needed or not.

For example, if the developers don’t know the way your app is meant to scale, they won’t be able to satisfy your needs. There’s a great chance that they’ll create an app that doesn’t support the number of users you’re planning to welcome aboard.

That’s why you should be careful with briefing the project to your development team. Make sure you explain everything as detailed as possible and leave no room for hesitation.

Poor planning

Many companies don’t make plans before even writing a single line of code. That’s wrong. Dedicating the time to research and plan the project can determine the destiny of the app.

Unfortunately, due to inexperience, many companies don’t know the resources their desired project will require. This leads to unrealistic expectations and frustrations when things don’t go as planned.

You can’t plan everything and that’s certain. There will always be unpredictable things that will come up just when you think everything’s perfect. But, you can’t solve everything on the go. It’s also very important to have a framework that will include most of the decisions you’ll have to take during the development process.

This means following the agile methodology. Agile companies are dynamic and adapt to changes with quick, but relevant decisions. They have leaders who embrace the unknown, flexible teams with cross-team communication and provide frequent and relevant feedback. Most importantly, they constantly learn.

Tight deadlines

This usually happens when companies with inexperienced teams believe they can complete a project in no time, without being aware of its complexity. They rely on data or real-world examples to estimate the actual duration of the software development process. What is worse, executives often set deadlines without consulting with developers, thinking that everything can be made in just a few days.

Companies are always in a hurry to get their products to the market as fast as they can. This rush brings more bad than good things. Rushing means making too many mistakes and releasing an incomplete customer app that’s doomed to failure. Short time also means cutting down on many features just to finish faster, so the final product often fails to satisfy the needs of end customers.

What’s the solution?

Many ideas have failed due to the inexperience of those who came up with them in the first place. And, we totally understand the enthusiasm you have when a great idea comes up. You think you know it all and that you can do everything. You want it all and you want it now.

However, this usually makes the development process much longer than you expected. During the process, you realize that you don’t really know it all and that you might need some more time to learn some things. In the meantime, a similar idea breaks out much faster and takes the market share that should have been yours. Just because they were more efficient and probably planned better.

That’s why you should leave software projects development in your tech partner’s hands. With a process that relies on trust and transparency, you can end up with a great product that answers all your customer needs.

Focus on business development

You should be all about developing and improving your idea and how it gives value to your users. Spending too much time taking care of development, testing, and project management takes you far away from your initial idea. Instead, you should be focusing on opportunities for growth, return of investment, business development, and finding investors for your startup.

An expert development team can also create an MVP of your idea in days. Having an MVP is very important if you’re looking for investors. This way, you’ll be able to present them with a functional version of your product and showcase its benefits.

Partnering with a development company means that they take over the whole process: project management, development, testing, and UX design. You will get a reliable time, resources, and cost estimation even before you decide to proceed.

The benefits of having a tech partner

An experienced development team will be able to meet your deadlines, delivering exactly what you want. They can make a precise estimation of the time needed to create every single feature you need and develop a useful, user-friendly application.

Furthermore, they can advise you from the beginning and help you create a plan with realistic expectations. Working on many projects like your own, they’ll be able to tell you what kind of unpredicted challenges could come up during the development process. This way, you’ll know what to expect and you’ll set a precise timeline for the release of your application.

Moreover, they will help you with <b>resource planning</b>. As they know what resources are needed for every specific phase of the development process, you’ll be able to allocate your resources effectively. This will save you from wasting time and money due to inexperience.

Finally, a professional team with a proven track record will know how your application will scale further. They’ll set up an infrastructure that will support all your future users and the data they bring. You won’t have to worry about unexpected increasing demand that might cause a system crash.

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Hiring an external development team has become a common practice for software projects development. This is an action mostly taken by companies that want to focus on business growth and seamless user experience.

It isn’t just the help you’re hiring. This is a business partner that should boost the overall growth of your business. When choosing your new business partner, you should focus on those who understand and respect your needs. This should be a professional team that will leverage the industry’s best practices to create a good product for your users.

With so many projects failing, you shouldn’t rush into doing everything by yourself. Letting an experienced team develop your application will save you from a lot of headaches. This step would be much more efficient than creating an in-house development team from scratch.