Why website projects fail, and how to ensure success

Website projects can fail for a number of reasons, this article outlines the most common routes to failure so you can avoid them. Crack open a bottle of pessimism and enjoy.

"There's an old saying about how there are a million ways to fail, but only one way to be right. When it comes to projects, nothing's further from the truth. Projects fail the same few ways over and over again."

www.stellman-greene.com

Firstly, it's important to understand that a project will naturally fail unless individuals are actively mitigating against this. Failure is usually a label stuck on a project by unhappy stakeholders, however there are three cut and dry definitions:

  • Over budget
  • Delivered late
  • Did not produce the expected results

Expected results for every website

Even if stakeholders have not formally set expectations, there are some assumed results. Neglect any of these and you'll be doomed to failure. Doomed I tell you.

  1. Users must find it easy to edit and maintain
  2. It must be affordable to apply necessary updates
  3. It must be reliable and appropriately backed up
  4. It must be fast to load
  5. User activity and results must be measurable
  6. It must be effective (this usually means converting users into customers)

Reasons for failure

  1. Lack of commitment, or disinterest from top level management
  2. Poorly documented requirements
  3. Lack of user involvement / understanding
  4. Fixing time line, scope and budget
  5. Unrealistic demands
  6. Weak leadership
  7. Lack of sign-off
  8. Unclear project ownership and accountability
  9. Unrealistic scope
  10. Scope creep
  11. Lack of change control system
  12. Insufficient technical and user testing or a poorly managed testing programme
  13. Disorganised project team
  14. Poorly defined or constantly changing goals / objectives
  15. Lack of a solid and well managed plan
  16. Poorly managed risk
  17. Lack of clarity in roles and responsibilities
  18. Stockholder conflict
  19. Competing priorities
  20. Poor internal communication and reporting
  21. Insufficient project resources
  22. Lack of access to subject matter experts (e.g. SEO, CMS selection)
  23. Politics / bureaucracy
  24. Lack of approved prioritisation
  25. Obvious warning signals ignored
  26. Lack of pre-project planning
  27. New / unfamiliar technology
  28. Burying bad news
  29. Separation of design and build teams (geographic or organisational)
  30. Lack of an iterative development process
  31. Poor handling of escalated issues
  32. Over optimism / naivety
  33. Insufficient training
  34. Assuming you can collect a huge set of requirements and build a site expected to last 3-5 years
  35. A project run entirely by either marketing or IT
  36. Inappropriate team size
  37. Necessary tools not available
  38. Project team are not happy
  39. Under qualified external agency
  40. Micro management of project team