Why Projects Fail? Insights from Top Engineers (2024)
In June 2024 I went to two ruby conferences in Europe.
As I was meeting many smart engineers, I wondered:
Everyone is making projects. But only some of them actually succeed.
- What were some of your project failures?
- Why do software projects fail?
My name is Till Carlos and I document how my team builds products. And today we are talking project failures.
And these are opinions from people from America and Europe.
Eileen M. Uchitelle, eileencodes.com
Key Takeaways: Premature complexity, solve non-problems
Eileen highlighted the dangers of premature optimization and solving non-existent problems. This often leads to unnecessary complexity and wasted resources in software projects.
Moritz Kroger, CTO at Sapiens Germany GmbH
Key Takeaways: Doing neither of agile / planning
Moritz pointed out a critical issue where teams get stuck between methodologies. When not fully committed to either agile or traditional planning, projects can end up in a limbo, hindering progress and potentially leading to failure.
Jan Krutisch, @halfbyte
Key Takeaways: Missing a business or design person
Jan emphasized the importance of having a diverse team. Projects often fail when they lack crucial business or design perspectives, as developers might get too focused on technical aspects.
Henning Thies, henning-thies.de
Key Takeaways: Most side projects
Henning noted that most side projects fail. This serves as a reminder that even great ideas need proper execution and dedication to succeed.
Sebastian Korfmann, @skorfmann
Key Takeaways: Side project got nowhere (but he found a job through one!)
Sebastian’s experience shows that even “failed” projects can lead to unexpected opportunities, underlining the importance of putting work out there.
Radoslav Stankov, rstankov.com
Key Takeaways: JSON in a rich text editor
Radoslav shared a technical failure involving JSON in a rich text editor, illustrating how specific technical decisions can have far-reaching consequences.
Guilherme Carreiro, @karreiro
Key Takeaways: Only small mistakes that get found by other members
Guilherme’s perspective from Shopify demonstrates how a well-structured team with good processes can prevent major failures by catching small mistakes early.
Stephen Margheim, fractaledmind.github.io
Key Takeaways: Failure = learning from a test
Stephen views failure as a learning opportunity, promoting a healthy mindset that can turn setbacks into opportunities for improvement.
I also asked them what makes projects successful. You can read about it here.
What’s your biggest project failure? How did you learn from it?
