How to Avoid Common Pitfalls in Tech Projects

Introduction

The technology world is evolving rapidly, however, the journey from concept to delivery or maintenance is often hindered by challenges. These challenges, or pitfalls, can derail even the most well-planned projects, leading to missed deadlines, budget overruns, and unsatisfied clients. These challenges are possible in any tech project regardless of the size. A good example is Facebook’s global outage in 2021 or the U.S. National Weather Service data loss in 2019. Navigating these challenges requires a proactive approach that anticipates problems before they arise and implements strategies to avoid them.

At Assurdly, we understand the fundamental importance of delivering high-quality projects on time and within budget. With years of experience in software testing, product delivery and project management, we help clients avoid common pitfalls and achieve project success. In this blog, we will cover the most common tech project challenges and how Assurdly mitigates them.

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Pitfalls in Tech Projects: Examples

Before we examine key pitfalls in tech projects, let’s take a cue from these two companies that suffered tremendous losses because of an oversight in their software quality process.

1. Quibi (2020)

Quibi, a short-form streaming service, suffered from a poorly executed product launch. Despite heavy marketing and a significant investment of nearly $2 billion, the app suffered from low user engagement, a confusing user interface, and a lack of compelling content that resonated with the audience. The app also launched without key features, such as TV casting support, which were essential for a streaming platform.

‍Impact: The service was shut down just six months after its launch. Quibi’s failure was largely attributed to its inability to deliver a product that met consumer expectations, despite strong initial interest.

‍Key Lesson: Even with substantial investment, poor user experience and software quality can cause a product to fail in a competitive market.

2. Knight Capital Group (2012)

A software bug in Knight Capital’s automated trading system led to a financial disaster. The bug caused the system to execute a large number of unintended trades, resulting in the company buying and selling stocks at a loss.

‍Impact: In just 45 minutes, Knight Capital lost $440 million due to the malfunction. The loss was so massive that it forced the company to seek emergency funding and eventually led to its acquisition by Getco LLC, another trading firm.

Key Lesson: Software quality in high-stakes environments like financial markets is critical, and even minor bugs can have catastrophic consequences.

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Key Pitfalls in Tech Projects

Lack of Clear Requirements

Many projects fail due to unclear or evolving requirements. Without a solid understanding of the project’s goals, teams often build the wrong solution, causing delays and wasted resources. This pitfall usually happens when there are inadequate initial discussions or shifting market demands without considering the impact on the already built product or the time and monetary constraints.

If you wonder what impact this would have on your project, then you should imagine the extended timelines your project will suffer, increased project costs and frequent revisions that could fatigue all stakeholders.

Our Approach:

We hold comprehensive stakeholder syncs to ensure alignment from day one. Using user stories and use cases, we create a clear roadmap that both technical and non-technical teams can follow. Continuous refinement ensures we stay on course as project requirements evolve, and we advise on the value of iterative delivery to bring incremental value and get fast feedback.

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Inadequate Testing 

Skipping or rushing through the testing phase often happens due to tight deadlines or limited resources. When teams are under pressure to meet delivery dates, quality is sometimes seen as expendable, with the assumption that issues can be fixed after launch. Additionally, the complexity of the software is frequently underestimated, leading to less thorough testing. Imagine an e-commerce platform project, where the focus has shifted towards getting the payment functionality right while skipping vital performance tests for the shopping cart, leading to slow load times during peak usage.

Our Approach:

We integrate QA from the beginning, employing both automated and manual testing to catch issues early. We also focus on performance and security testing to ensure a robust final product, preventing costly post-launch fixes.

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Poor Communication

Communication breakdown can lead to misaligned goals, duplicated efforts, and project delays. Poor communication often arises when there are no effective communication channels in place, especially in teams that are geographically dispersed. Misunderstandings can also happen between technical and non-technical stakeholders, causing misaligned expectations. 

The consequences of poor communication are widespread confusion about project objectives, leading to duplicated efforts or tasks being overlooked. Critical decisions are either delayed or made without full understanding, causing the project to fall behind schedule. 

Our Approach:

We use real-time collaboration tools and provide regular status updates to keep stakeholders informed. Our clear, concise reports ensure that everyone—whether technical or executive—is on the same page.

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Scope Creep

Scope creep occurs when additional features or changes are introduced without adjusting time, budget, or resources. This can quickly derail projects, causing stress and leading to burnout among teams. This can also result from a lack of a formal change management process. For example, in a software upgrade for a financial institution, requests for extra features—such as new reporting tools—may continue to be added as the project progresses, disrupting the original plan, especially if the extra time or resources needed are not accounted for.

The impact of scope creep can be profound and lead to significant project delays and increased costs. Teams become overloaded with additional tasks, which can affect the quality of their work as they scramble to meet new demands.

Our Approach:

We use a formal change and risk management process to evaluate and approve any changes to scope. Through scope control meetings and work breakdown structures (WBS), we prioritise critical tasks, keeping projects on track and informing on the impact or proposed changes and the best way to realise them.

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Neglecting User Experience

In a rush to meet deadlines, it’s easy to overlook user experience (UX). However, poor UX leads to a product that fails to resonate with users, resulting in low adoption and negative reviews. 

This is especially common when developers and designers work in silos, without collaborating closely to integrate user feedback into the design. Poor UX leads to frustrated users who may abandon the product entirely, which increases the workload for customer support teams and damages the brand’s reputation. In an enterprise-level product, neglecting UX can also lead to the costly retraining of staff or clients. 

Our Approach:

We put users at the centre of our design process. Through detailed user research and iterative design testing, we ensure the final product is intuitive, functional, and enjoyable for users. Usability testing is woven throughout development to guarantee a seamless experience.

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How Assurdly Ensures Success

In the course of our partnerships, we don’t just identify pitfalls—we prevent them. Our approach focuses on:

• Comprehensive Requirement Gathering: Clear requirements from the start through stakeholder syncs and ongoing refinements.
• Robust Testing: Early institution of quality assurance processes throughout the SDLC and early testing right from the requirement process..
• Effective Communication: Regular updates, real-time collaboration tools, and clear reporting.
• Scope Control: Managed scope changes through formal processes and priority-driven task management.
• User-Centric Design: Research-driven design decisions, iterative testing, and integrated usability testing.

Avoiding the common pitfalls in tech projects requires proactive planning, communication, and continuous testing. At Assurdly, we’ve developed a proven framework to ensure projects stay on time, within budget, and deliver top-tier results.