Is your project in trouble?
8 signs your software project needs a rescue
Every project has a bad week. These are the signs that the problem is not a bad week, and that the project needs outside help before it gets more expensive.
Updated
The eight signs
One of these on its own can be normal. Two or more, for more than a couple of months, mean the project needs attention.
Deadlines keep moving
Each estimate is missed, and so is each new date. Nobody on the team can say with confidence when the next feature will ship.
Every release breaks something
A fix in one place causes a defect somewhere else. Releases need a long manual check, or they get rolled back.
Nobody trusts the tests
The automated tests fail often, are skipped, or do not exist. Every change is a risk, and your users find the defects first.
The budget grows, the product does not
Spending keeps rising, but the list of finished features stays about the same from month to month.
Only one person knows how it works
One developer or one vendor holds the knowledge, the logins or the deployment steps. If they leave, the project stops.
The framework is out of support
The application runs on a framework or runtime version that no longer gets security fixes, and the upgrade keeps being put off.
You cannot get straight answers
Status reports are vague, demos get cancelled, and questions about the code or the costs get no clear reply.
You do not control your own accounts
The code repository, the hosting, the domain or the app-store accounts belong to the vendor, not to your company.
What to do first
- Protect what you have. Make sure a person at your company owns or administers every account: the code, the hosting, the domain and the app stores. If your developer has stopped answering, start with these six steps.
- Get the facts before you spend more. An independent technical assessment reviews the code, the process, the pipeline and the security, and says what to fix first.
- Then decide. With the assessment in hand, you can choose between fixing the project and replacing parts of it. See how to decide between rescue and rebuild.
Common questions
When should we bring in outside help?
When two or more of these signs last for more than a couple of months, or when one of them puts a contract date or your users' data at risk.
Can a project be rescued without replacing our current team?
Yes. A rescue can work alongside your engineers. Briebug pairs with in-house teams and hands the project back to them, with documentation of what changed and why.
Should we rescue the project or rebuild it?
That depends on what an independent review of the code finds. Many projects can be fixed without starting over, and a rebuild has costs that are easy to miss.
How much does a technical assessment cost?
A fixed fee of $10K, and about 1 week. You get a comprehensive report you can take to anyone, a triage report of what to fix in what order, and a milestone-based estimate.
See two or more of these signs?
Book a short call with a senior engineer. We will scope the assessment and confirm the fixed fee before you commit.