Deadlines are getting longer, budgets are getting bigger. 4 unobvious reasons why your product won't launch

There is still a common belief that creating a complex technological product is easy and fast. And not only in Ukraine, but also in the USA, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, in fact, in every market where we develop projects.

Two months of work, a budget equal to two months' salary of one developer - and an e-commerce platform, corporate portal or food delivery app is already conquering the markets.

In reality, things are a little different. The deadlines are getting longer, the budget is growing, and the product is not at all what was originally planned. Time and money are lost. Here's what's slowing down your website launch and how to avoid it.

You don't have a product owner

Product owner – project leader, he is responsible for the product at all stages of its creation: from the first prototypes to the launch and testing of hypotheses, including further development.

The client's team must have a product owner with the right to make decisions, trial and error, with full trust from the project investors.

His load is 110%, no combinations of positions, etc. You should not expect the project manager from the developer to understand all the details of your business.

The Western market understands this, which is why there is a clear division of areas of responsibility. This system of work significantly speeds up the process and provides a clearer understanding of the product. Thanks to this, we launched a complex eCommerce platform Camp David & Socxx on the Italian market in four months.

You did not prepare a detailed descriptive part of the project

There was no business analysis, you did not describe the product and audience, you did not decide on the programs and necessary software and much more that needs to be done at the initial stage for a full launch.

You simply must have a Vision & Scope document (concept and boundaries. – Ed. Note), where knowledge about the project will be collected from the first days, the key functions of the product will be described.

Why is it needed? First of all, you need it to understand what kind of product you will get at the output and what business goals it will solve. Systematizing knowledge and agreements – a wise decision.

You are in a hurry

As a rule, during the launch of a product, everyone is in a hurry. There is no time for additional meetings and discussions. Conducting a two-day training turns out to be a problem, as a result, the project opens as is, and then anything goes.

During the entire period of creating a platform, many additional questions and nuances arise, related not only to how business goals should be implemented, but also to possible options for user behavior on the resource.

We always initiate meetings in order to clarify important strategic points with the client, because in a hurry, those nuances that can cause everything to fall apart are often not discussed. There was an occasion when the client decided to change the user path before the backend development stage. If the customer had changed their vision a little later, the cost of the mistake would have been $10,000.

It is important to form business and functional requirements at least at a basic level. Haste is needed when you have something that is not yet on the market. And here - okay. Let's hurry.

You made a mistake when budgeting the project

A technological product - this is a living project that requires constant investment. Technologies do not stand still. Development does not stop, creating something and forgetting about it for three years, okay - possible, but this is for a landing page, not an ecommerce platform with thousands of products.

With our client Camp David & Soccx, a youth clothing brand on the Swiss market, we work on a long-term basis and constantly develop the platform. This saves the client unnecessary headaches and helps them focus on business development, not technical problems.

The budget for the project is formed based on the team. In order not to make a mistake when budgeting, you need to understand which people you will need and at what stage: frontend developer, designer, backend developer, and so on.

Then everything is easy: based on the time required for support, the cost of the work is calculated. The composition of the team will depend on the complexity of the product. To support a simple corporate website, 20-30 hours of manager, designer, and engineers may be enough, while for a heavy online store, the entire team from the project manager to backend developers is needed.

Here, based on experience, we tell clients what pitfalls may appear and what cost should be laid down - $1 thousand or $10 thousand.

It's tough, but it's worth accepting that launching a large technological product – This is not a kiosk in the subway, but a more complex and at the same time promising project.