Kiandra Insights

Failure Is Only Fine When You Can’t Avoid It

Meghan Lodwick - PR & Communication Manager
by
Meghan Lodwick
PR & Communication Manager
|
October 30, 2018
Meghan Lodwick
PR & Communication Manager
October 30, 2018
A mini figurine dodging pitfalls

In 2015, the Standish Group studied 50,000 software development projects around the world, from tiny enhancements to massive systems re-engineering implementations, and found only 29 per cent were successful.

Success factors for the projects were defined as being on time, on budget with a satisfactory result – on top of the above stat, 52 per cent of the projects were challenged and 19 per cent were complete and utter failures.

Against those odds is the ever-growing need for digital technology to improve speed of delivery and push business objectives forward. With digital initiatives being activated left and right, everyone needs to get better at being able to spot a failure before it happens.

Get clear from the beginning

There’s always a discovery phase when it comes to mapping out your digital transformation (if there isn’t that’s a red flag, run). This is where you get super transparent about what you want, define success and develop clear objectives and requirements. Your project specifications should be broken down and detailed including a project management plan, get this right from the get-go.

True cost of a cheap quote

Kiandra Senior Project Manager Damien explains “I spent many years working client side before joining Kiandra and seen first-hand when a cheap option is not your best option.” He tells clients to look out for lowballing and undisclosed offshoring and resourcing. Sometimes if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Trust your gut.

Hire for skills not pretty pictures

Presentations can be deceiving – remove all the glitz and glamour and your new website could just be an off-the-shelf solution run through the UX machine, twice.

Check the credentials of your developers, ask what they will do on the project, what other projects they have worked on and how long they have been in the business – the more experience a developer has the more positively this impacts the project.

Form a badass team with a badass project manager

Project management has reached its corporate peak – it’s evident that projects need strong leaders to succeed. Success in this space needs a project manager to have the capacity and expertise to dig in deeper technically, and truly understand what’s being discussed to make sure every deviation is worthwhile and ultimately delivering the best outcome to the client.

Be involved

Don’t just sign on the dotted line and say ‘see-ya’. Check in at milestones, attend project team WIPs and understand how the project is tracking towards your deliverables and answer your emails. Of course, you have to let the team work, but make sure you know how the project is tracking towards your outcome.

The fact of the matter is, if the above odds are anything to go by, things may still go wrong. And if you are needing to get a project back on track, we are of the opinion that it’s best to bring in a team that will salvage what you have and then take it where you want to go, because most of the time, starting from scratch is even more costly.

Share article
LinkedIn.com

More insights

A series of green arrows pointing right cut through a chaotic background of red arrows pointing in random directions. Small metallic tokens with green centres are placed along the green arrows, symbolising order, focus, and direction amid disorder.

MONSON: From chaos to control

Cassandra Wallace
19/5/2025

You know what chaos looks like – disjointed systems, endless manual data entry, staff wasting hours updating spreadsheets while shipments sit idle, and customers left waiting, wondering, chasing updates again and again.

Read more
Colourful graphic for the 2025 ARN Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA), featuring the text "ARN WIICTA Women in ICT Awards 2025" on the left and a gold banner with the word "WINNER!" on the right, set against a vibrant background of purples, blues, and pinks with bokeh-style light effects.

Kiandra’s Cassandra Wallace wins Women in ICT Award

Tom Wills
19/5/2025

Kiandra is proud to announce that Cassandra Wallace, Head of Software Engineering, has been named a winner in the 2025 ARN Women in ICT Awards (WIICTA), taking out top honours in the Shining Star category.

Read more
A healthcare professional wearing blue scrubs and a stethoscope uses a digital tablet in a clinical setting.

From 12 months to 5: WA Health's medical invoicing system delivered rapidly with low-code

Cassandra Wallace
14/5/2025

When the WA Health system needed to replace a 25-year-old platform used to manage and process payments for more than 1,000 contracted medical professionals, the pressure was on.

Read more

Let’s discuss your next project

Whether you’re curious about custom software or have a specific problem to solve – we’re here to answer your questions. Fill in the following form, and we’ll be in touch soon.

Email

Would you like to receive an occasional email showcasing the latest insights, articles and news from our team of software experts?

Thanks for reaching out! One of our software experts will be in
touch soon to help you with your enquiry
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By browsing our website you consent to the use of cookies as detailed in our Privacy Policy