Common Reasons Web Development Projects Fail

Nobody sets out for a web development project to fail, but unfortunately, all too often something will go wrong along the way. Of course, there are plenty of issues that can arise, but they often fall into the same few categories. By knowing more about the common reasons why web development projects fail, you can end up putting yourself in a much stronger position to ensure that yours succeeds. So, let’s take a closer look at some of the issues that could arise.

 

Hiring Poor-Quality Developers

With so many people seemingly offering a similar service, it can be tempting to go for a cut-price option or hire a freelancer that does not have a great deal of experience. However, this can easily put you in a situation in which the whole project is in jeopardy. Instead, you need to check out verified references, as well as looking at some of the work that has been completed in the past. Otherwise, you can easily find yourself in a situation in which you have hired somebody who is simply not up to the job and this is both time and money that is going down the drain as a result. Ultimately, if the alarm bells start ringing and the person does not seem up to the job, it is time to go elsewhere. Also, if their communication skills are poor and they cannot answer your questions as fully as you would like, it is time to be worried.

 

Lack of Clear Definition of the Project Scope and Requirements

The next clear and obvious issue that you need to avoid is a lack of clear definition of what you want to achieve from the website. Sometimes, you start off with what seems to be a relatively simple idea, but it quickly starts to snowball into something else entirely. So, this means that you need to go through a detailed planning phase to ensure that nothing gets missed to begin with. Checking out this list of project management tools is a useful starting point as it allows you to fully get on board with the planning phase. When you are consulting with your professional developer, you need to make sure that you give them a brief that is as detailed as possible. This way, it is much more likely that you are going to end up with a finished product that you are satisfied with, as long as you have chosen the right developer.

 

Putting Design Before Functionality

While it is obviously very important that you make your website design as strong as possible, this does not mean that you should be simply sacrificing the functionality without a second thought. While it is important that people are drawn into the site with some attractive design work, if they are not able to actually get around the site without encountering too many problems, it is much more likely that they are simply going to switch off and go elsewhere. An example of where the two can clash directly is when you put animation onto a site. While this is all well and good, it can easily get to the stage in which this impacts the website loading time. In our modern world of instant connectivity, people are much more likely to simply switch off and go elsewhere if they cannot access the site in just a few seconds. Also, you do not want the design to override any work that you do on the navigation, as it is highly important that people are able to move from one section of the site to another with the least possible number of problems along the way.

 

Trying to Do Too Much

While there is nothing wrong with having an ambitious project scope per se, if you try to do too much with your website, it is more than likely that you are going to end up doing nothing at all. For this reason, you should have some clear goals in mind of what you want to achieve from the site. While you may have some secondary targets, these should not overwhelm what you are trying to do in the first place. Once the website is up and running, you can always put more work into it to create the type of site that you had always dreamed about.

 

Too Many Cooks

While it is useful to get the opinion of others on a website, this does not mean that you should have too many people working on the project at once. Otherwise, it is all too easy to get into a situation in which there are so many opinions floating around that the site becomes something of a Frankenstein’s monster rather than something with a clear vision in mind that follows through until the end. For this reason, it is highly important to think about who you put in charge of the website project. Ideally, it will be somebody who has direct experience in the area, as well as an individual who knows how to filter through opinions to put their finger on what works and what does not.

 

Poor Quality Assurance

Once the website project has been largely completed, it then needs to go through a process of quality assurance. Without this, it is easy to get into a situation in which there are bugs and issues on the site that have simply not been picked up. Obviously, it is much better that a developer or a member of the team picks up on these rather than a customer. Otherwise, you can end up in a situation in which you are looking unprofessional, and it is easy for the project to be thrown into disrepute.

Any one of these issues could be the one that is causing serious harm to your website project. For this reason, all of them need to be avoided as much as possible to ensure success and that you achieve the return on investment that you went into the project looking to attain.