Lessons Learned from a Failed Software Development Project

It is common knowledge that custom software development projects are often very complicated undertakings. Even with extreme care, the results of the project may still be inadequate because of miscommunication, not fulfilling the objectives, or even having some problems with the technology being used. In this article, I will discuss one particular example of unsuccessful software development and its post-mortem analysis in order to explain the post-mortem analysis in detail.

In this case, the objective does not revolve around the failure but rather what is gleaned to aid in evaluating future endeavors so that, in a bigger picture, informs the strategies employed in the computer software development lifecycle.

This article is part of a two author / two part series meant to be a “cautionary tale” so that developers avoid common pitfalls. Also consider reading the first part of this series on the most common software mistakes.

1. The Importance of Clear Project Goals and Requirements

Among some of the more pronounced reasons for the failure of a project, uncertainty around goals and requirements is one of the major risk factors. Without a clearly outlined scope of the project, the biggest risk resulting in problems is scope creep, the adding and changing of features. This not only expands the original objectives but also the time and finances that were allocated for the project.

The absence of a well-defined project scope resulted in stakeholders forming expectations of success at different levels on the project timeline. These notions often conflicted with each other. This demonstrates the value that capturing and documenting project requirements holds in the early phases.

Comprehensive project specifications complete with definable milestones should be included as part of project documentation to enhance expectation management. This serves as a tracking mechanism along with highly adjustable boundaries for completing a project.

2. Communication and Collaboration Gaps

These failures highlight the value of efficient communication in the other phases of the project. The vast geographical distance between teams, be it at different levels of the organization or within the same department, poses a challenge to communication that is inevitable.

With regards to the reporting procedures in this particular project, the participants had no reporting procedures which coupled with infrequent reporting meant that a good number of people did not know what was going on in the formation of the project and what was required of them. Hence, everyone involved in project management should take measures to guarantee that there is sufficient transparency and reporting in the project. In all of the above cases, this is achieved through daily stand-ups, sprint reviews and regressions where the team reflects on their achievements and failures.

3. Underestimating Technical Debt and Complexity

Once more a lesson came from underestimating the technical debt incurred over the entire project development life cycle. The definition of debt in this context is the cost of additional rework that is required in the future because of an easier but less effective solution that was adopted. It can significantly compromise the sustainability and longevity of a project.

In the case of the failed project, the deadlines were met by using all available resources and taking certain shortcuts, which culminated to an unsustainable level of technical debt. It is important to monitor the technical debt on an ongoing basis during the course of the project.

Code documentation outcome, documentation, appropriate refactoring, code reviews are but some of the processes that constitute the necessary legwork. Suppose a software development company’s technical debt is low. In that case, their developers can reap the maximum benefit from a clean and maintainable codebase, provided that a strong investment was made in the early stages of software development.

4. The Role of Agile Methodologies and Flexibility

When implemented Software development Methodologies effectively, agile techniques offer an enabling framework that is both flexible and adaptive in managing software projects. In our case, agile practices were attempted, but due to a lack of discipline, they were not fully achieved.

The lack of prioritization for work combined with insufficient sprint planning resulted in rushed delivery and significant rework. Appreciating agile’s value of iteration, improvement, and incremental value addition is important. Striding towards goal setting and review sessions helps mitigate issues early on. Scope changes are unavoidable and agile principles, in this instance, recommend controlled (planned) change.

5. Balancing Stakeholder Expectations

Expectation management, either as a distinct set of skills or as a segmented systematic approach, often overlaps with the project management discipline. In the case of a gap not closing, ‘lagging behind’ was concerning for development and other team stakeholders. More frequently than not, other stakeholders had overly optimistic expectations on timelines for milestone achievements.

Capturing overly optimistic estimates as benchmarks leads to an erosion of trust and expectation. The level of frustration is heightened with lack of control mechanisms among stakeholders. The level of communication, as simple as it seems, is the most critical measure that project managers need to change actively for purposes of engaging stakeholders and earning their trust.

That said, the communication needs to include setting attainable milestones, completing check-ins at designated times, and candid self-assessment of potential issues or concerns. Additionally, stakeholder involvement at various stages of the project also guarantees that the expectations set will be met. Stakeholder participants are also less likely to be faced with surprises at project completion.

6. The Impact of Leadership on Team Dynamics

Strong leadership or lack thereof can easily derail projects. I recall one of our projects that was doomed to fail simply because there was no leadership. It is remarkable how many different aspects a project can be reduced to if there is no leader. If there is no strong leader to maintain control over a project, there is fragmentation of the team that leads to chaos and mindless violence.

Project leaders serve as fundamental components in a project because they furnish the detailed processes needed to accomplish the desired results and also make certain that all active personnel provide the outcomes desired. Leading in all of its forms is watching, attending, interacting with subordinates and straining towards the achievement of objectives. The objectives of the scope of project goals on leadership in a project narrows down to conflict, decision, and alignment to the employing team.

7. Risk Management and Contingency Planning

Every case has its projected risks that may either help or hurt a strategy. The management in this case did not seem to contain risk until the collapse of the project during its later stages. There appear to be no foresight plans on the potential changes in project scope or technical changes that could arise unexpectedly.

All categories of project risks are bound to be identified and assessed at the onset of work on the project. Beginning from the definition of project scope all the way to the execution stage. The evaluation of risks entails estimation, budgeting, project role allocation, and also the formulation of evergreen risks throughout the entire project lifecycle.

8. Continuous Learning and Process Improvement

Failure enabled the participants of the project to learn a lesson on embracing change and fostering improvements at all levels. The focus must be on ensuring that failure through defining objectives post-mortem requires reaping deeper consequences toward imprinting design horizons within the context of design thinking. Organizational culture allows failure through deeper digests as enabling analysis where teams confronting the deep core failure are able to take the required action of identifying the system’s breakdown.

This keeps a record of the negative outcomes as well as the learning outcomes from negative outcomes. It highlights not only celebrating the successes but also nurturing a culture that encourages the collection of failures, which stand up as evidence for constructive improvement instead of placing blame. Implementing such a strategy will most certainly promote the innovation, resilience, and agility required to deal with subsequent challenges.

Conclusion

The setbacks in a software development project, however demoralizing, still offer invaluable lessons that, when adopted, can be foundational to future successes. Success in itself is a multifaceted endeavor, with prerequisites such as well-defined project goals and objectives, effective communication, management of technical debt, and consistent application of agile methodologies.

These lessons taken in unison are what enable organizations to not only seek new ways but also transform failures into processes that are intelligently engineered. They not only bolster the chances of attaining these goals but also bring forth a culture that is sustainable and fostered on innovation.

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Harikrishna Kundariya

Harikrishna Kundariya, is a marketer, developer, IoT, Cloud & AWS savvy, co-founder, and Director of eSparkBiz, a Software Development Company. His 14+ years of experience enables him to provide digital solutions to new start-ups based on IoT and SaaS applications.