Why most Разработка сайтов projects fail (and how yours won't)
Your Website Project Is Probably Doomed (But It Doesn't Have To Be)
Here's a stat that should make you uncomfortable: 68% of web development projects either fail completely or miss their original goals by such a wide margin they might as well have. I've watched this happen dozens of times, and it's rarely the developers' fault.
Last month, a friend called me, frustrated beyond belief. Six months into building an e-commerce site, they'd burned through $47,000 and still had nothing to show for it. The kicker? This wasn't some complex enterprise system. Just a straightforward online store.
Sound familiar?
The Real Culprit Behind Failed Website Projects
Most people blame bad developers. Wrong answer.
The actual problem starts way earlier—usually during a 30-minute conversation where someone says "we need a website" and everyone nods without asking the hard questions. No one defines what "done" looks like. Nobody agrees on priorities. The budget is a guess multiplied by hope.
I've seen companies spend eight weeks debating logo colors while core functionality sits undefined. One client changed their mind about the site's primary purpose three times in two months. Another assumed their developer could read minds about features they'd never actually mentioned.
The Money Pit Pattern
Here's how the death spiral typically unfolds: Week 1-2 feels productive. Everyone's excited. Then week 4 hits, and the client realizes the mockups don't match what they imagined (but never articulated). Revisions begin. The timeline stretches. New "must-have" features appear. The budget balloons. By month 3, both sides are miserable, and the finish line keeps moving.
A manufacturing company I consulted for spent 11 months and $83,000 building a customer portal that ultimately got 12 users. Twelve. They'd never validated whether customers actually wanted it.
Red Flags That Your Project Is Heading South
Watch for these warning signs:
- Vague timelines: "It'll take a few months" means nobody actually planned anything
- No written requirements: If it's not documented, it doesn't exist—and you'll pay for assumptions later
- Radio silence stretches: When your developer goes dark for 2+ weeks, they're either stuck or avoiding bad news
- Scope creep acceptance: "Oh, just one more small feature" has killed more projects than bad code ever has
- Testing happens "at the end": This guarantees expensive surprises and delays
How To Actually Finish Your Website (On Time and Budget)
Step 1: Define Success Before Anything Else
Spend a full day writing down exactly what this website needs to do. Not what would be cool. What it must do to justify its existence. Get specific: "Reduce customer support calls by 30%" beats "improve customer experience" every single time.
One retail client did this exercise and realized they didn't need a fancy site at all—just a better FAQ page. Saved them $35,000.
Step 2: Build In Phases, Not All At Once
Break your project into three releases. Version 1 should be almost embarrassingly simple—just the core function that provides value. One SaaS startup I worked with launched with literally five pages and basic signup functionality. They had paying customers within three weeks and built everything else based on actual user feedback.
This approach typically cuts initial development time by 60% and prevents the "everything must be perfect before launch" paralysis.
Step 3: Weekly Reality Checks
Schedule 30-minute check-ins every single week. Not status updates—actual working sessions where you review what's been built. Catch misunderstandings when they cost 2 hours to fix, not 2 weeks.
Step 4: Lock The Scope (Seriously)
Create a "parking lot" document for new ideas. They're not rejected—they're deferred to version 2. This simple boundary saved one of my clients from a project that was expanding by 15% every month.
Step 5: Test With Real Humans Early
Get your site in front of actual users when it's 60% done. Not friends and family—real potential customers. Their confused faces will teach you more than any planning meeting ever could.
Staying On Track After Launch
The finish line isn't launch day. Budget 15-20% of your development cost for the first three months post-launch. Bugs will surface. Users will request obvious features you somehow missed. Servers will need tweaking.
Set aside two hours every month to review analytics and user feedback. Make small improvements continuously rather than planning another massive overhaul in two years.
Your website project doesn't have to join the 68% failure club. Most projects don't fail because of technical problems—they fail because of clarity problems, communication problems, and trying to do everything at once. Fix those, and you're already ahead of the pack.