Top 5 Reasons Why Software Development Projects Fail

In the software development industry, there are a substantial number of projects started by both corporations and individuals every year. Many of these are headed by people with a great deal of experience with developing software who know well how software development works. And yet many of them end up either failing or not fulfilling all of their goals. Why, then, do so many projects in the industry fail even when those behind them are experienced with the industry and seemingly know what they're doing?

These are 5 major reasons why software development projects fail and some ideas on how to avoid them.

 1. Not Enough Time

It is relatively common for the delivery date for a project to be decided well in advance of the start of a project and for it to be something that cannot be changed. Deadlines like this can often result in those responsible for a project rushing to get started on it, assuming that the sooner their developers start writing code, the sooner they will finish the project.

This is absolutely the wrong approach to take with any project. It is vital to take the time to create a workable design and plan ahead prior to starting to code a project. The best way to work around this issue is to include time for designing the project itself into your initial estimate of how long the project will take.

2. Budget

It is fairly common to try and spend the least amount possible on a project in order to save money rather than setting the budget based on the actual requirements of the project in question. This kind of budget commonly results in the project significantly slowing down. This manifests in the form of resources arriving slowly or never arriving at all and quality significantly suffering due to an insufficient budget.

The best way to address this is to base your budget on what the project's requirements are rather than to try and save money. This will give the project the funds it needs to be properly executed and not cause you to run out of resources because of a funding mismanagement.

3. Bad Communication

Making assumptions about a project is one of the worst things that you can do. Having good lines of communication between project members as well as with the customer will help to ensure success. It is vital to ensure that those involved in a project are talking to each other; as not doing so can result in serious complications that can kill the project.

This should be dealt with as soon as possible by finding any breakdowns in communication currently present and addressing that matter. It is especially critical to not assume what people are talking but to make sure terms are being defined equally and all players are understanding one another.

4. Insufficient Testing

Eventually, a project may reach the point where the pressure to deliver is building and this can result in testing what is already there being skipped over in favor of getting more work done. This is a severe mistake and can result in a product that is filled with bugs that could have easily been caught and fixed had there been more testing which is likely to make the customer very unhappy with you.

To prevent this, it is important to never skimp on testing even if that means delivering the product late, you should ensure that testing continues as it has been before no matter how much pressure the development team is under.

5. The Project Lacks QA

When in a rush to deliver a product, it is frequently the Quality Assurance part of the development process that pays the price. This often results in code changes being poorly documented, design flaws and implementations that are not finished. In order to prevent these issues from leading to unhappy customers, lost time and needing to rework parts of the project, it is vital that you continue taking the time to quality check and document your work before releasing it.

 Software development projects succeed or fail for more reasons than having new features and improving on old products. They need to be able to sell well, fit their designed purpose, and be good for their developer's business. Contact us for help with predicting the outcome of a project and making sure that your software development project is not doomed to failure before it even begins.

Sincerely, Todd Towles