When you’re investing in a project to build a website or mobile app, the first thing you can do to ensure the project goes well is to find the apt person for the job and make it a point to create a crystal clear project proposal that is laid out on the table before any work is initiated. But irrespective of the precautions taken or the resources available ensuring that a project succeeds is not child’s play.
In this article, we have incorporated the aspects one should look into to prevent a project failure. As per a recent study, the reason why most web projects fail is most predominantly the inefficiency of the developers, the ambiguity of the scope or the requirement, followed by scope creep which scales up to 12% and inefficient project management falling next in line with 14% impact on project failures. The below chart gives a clear picture of the impact of various aspects of the failure of most projects.
Here are some of the most common reasons that make so many web projects fail.
1. Inefficient developers
Web projects may seem like the best way to accentuate the business and you may find the whole world telling you that this can be done this way, this can be done be that way. Quite often the developers may not be well experienced or the marketing companies may not have an in-house development team to take care of the website or application.
It could be a blurring scenario when hiring developers, you could either get a jack of all trades, master of none developer or an MVP. It’s better to opt multiple specializations of different disciplines to deal with the complex requirements of the business these days. The advantage of the in-house team is that once the project is launched, the developer can then support in-house resources.
2. Lack of stakeholders
A brand new website could be made with an intention to enhance its ROI and to meet the corporate objectives. Modifications and enhancements made at the last phase of the project can cause huge losses monetary wise and time wise.
3. Ambiguity on scope and requirements
Quite often clients think they know what they want, but when expected to give a detailed explanation of their process, they realize they haven’t gone through the complex aspects. Hence it’s necessary to have a crystal clear plan and ensure that you deliver what the client needs and get input from your existing customers to enhance your services.
4. Don’t over promise
It’s better to build your complex projects in phases instead of publishing it all at once. You should always foresee the hurdles and have an idea of the limitations before you sign up for a project to avoid being in an embarrassing situation.
Don’t over promise what you can deliver. Always be aware of your capabilities to ensure that your projects don’t fail.
5. No version control
In Order to build a new website, it’s impossible to build it without a source code control system. The process can be all the more complex for a large application when the developers have to support, create or update source code files. To record the complete file modifications with comments in a project, use Source-control system ‘s quintessential for any project to blend the work together and work offline or even to roll back the functionality.
6. Inefficient project management
The project manager should take care of the streamlined planning, execution, the monitoring, the complete control and closure of a project. An efficient project manager can help prevent you from getting off the track and end up nowhere and ensure the process progresses in a streamlined manner.
7. Ensure that the design and purpose syncs
You might get carried away by the fancy designs that may seem near impossible to be built. In such cases, just wireframe out all the functionalities while considering the platform that’s being used to design the website. It would be much easier to have the development team to work with the designer and end up with something functionally and visually good.
8. Sloppy Quality Assurance by the organization
It’s advisable to keep aside 20% to 30% of development time for proper quality assurance. Since all projects have adequate bugs, it’s ideal to find the bugs and errors to prevent any issues for the website in the future.
9. Avoid hacking the core or the source code
Hacking occurs when an unqualified developer is unaware of how to do something and hacks to make it work which ends up changing the entire source code structure. The developer fixes one issue and another one pops up which is caused by the hacks done. Hacking not only makes it tedious to maintain the site later on but also makes it susceptible to exploitation and almost impossible for website updates due to the security and bug fixes.
10. Scope Creep
Scope Creep is the increased delay in the delivery of a project when the features, deliverables, or expectations consistently get added to a project without the budget or timeline being adjusted subsequently which would evidently cause the delay in the delivery of the project and demand more money than allotted in the beginning.
It’s not all over once you built or test a website, you will have to retest once the modifications are made. But a lot of modifications to the scope can make the project go haywire, especially if the decision makers aren’t involved in the initial stages of the projector didn’t have proper planning.
11. Unreasonable time/budget/quality
Too many cooks spoil the broth. Some projects fail due to extensive quality assurance measures which may not be feasible to keep up to within a limited time frame. The budget allocation if scanty also significantly affects the success of the project. Delineate the key milestone in order to ensure payments are not piled up and keep track of the payment done on successful completion of each milestone. Time is money, and as the saying goes, the more the time invested the more the money that gets spilled out into the completion of a project. Time, Quality and Budget are three key aspects that set the path of a project and make it successful or a failure.
12. No, buy-in from actual users
Some projects are pushed by senior management and they tend to run on losses. Senior level management may benefit out of the process and may continue to proceed with the project despite knowing the changes of a crackdown. This has to be identified and taken care of.
13. Inertia from users who are used to good enough solution
Some users of certain markets may be very particular about the quality and performance of the solution they use. Such users won’t settle for anything that’s mediocre or having a lot of errors. So it’s advisable to do some reasonable homework on your potential clients or existing customer and have a clear picture about the products or services they have been using. Their quality assurance expectations or standards need to be understood properly before initiating the project.
14. Usability Issues
The project may be technically functioning properly, but it needn’t be always user-friendly or responsive or compatible in all devices. This can be dealt with the development phase by ensuring that the software or application is compatible with all devices and is supported by all platforms whether its Android, iOS or Windows to prevent further hurdles.
15. Lack of User Involvement
Customer reviews received post-launch of trial version or feedback or suggestions received at any point shouldn’t be neglected or underestimated as minor changes can magnify the success of an application or software. The customer is the king and the end user and if their project requirements are not involved, it could you land you with a product that may seem technically perfect but not win the target audience.
Why Web Projects Fail? – Conclusion
It takes a lot more than project management to save your projects from drowning. Make sure you look into the above 15 points and keep track of the time/budget and quality at all phases. Understanding why web projects fail is a crucial step to avoid repeating the same mistakes other people have done.
If you are planning to start a web project and need more help with it, we’d love to talk with you and learn what you want to accomplish and what your greatest challenges are. Give us a shout:
