Why do software projects fail?
Our teams are well-versed in pulling projects back from the brink. In our experience, project difficulties often arise from situations such as:
- Poor project scoping, resulting in software which doesn’t benefit the end user
- Offshore or outsourced development with little to no quality control
- A relationship breakdown between the developers and the product owners
Generally, any project which comes to us in a troubling state will be scoped by our team. This allows our product designers and developers to gain a deep understanding of the software, as well as identify risks.
At the conclusion of scope, you are able to develop the new and improved software with us or shop around for another developer — you’re in control of your I.P.
Proceeding with your Brownfields Project
Option 1: Continue developing the Brownfields Application
Risks:
- Slow velocity
- Significant technical debt
- Poor performing application
This is the easiest solution in the short term but has the least business value long term. WorkingMouse will only continue supporting a Brownfields application if there is an immediate plan to rebuild.
Option 2: Migrate the application code to a newer tech stack
Risks:
- Same problems, newer technology
- Migration risks
Converting your old code to a newer tech stack seems like a logical fix, but in reality is trading one problem for another. Documentation, changes to business processes and dealing with legacy code now in a new language all have implications on the long-term success of the application. For that reason, WorkingMouse does not use any language migration tools.
Option 3: Rebuild the application
Risks:
- People/software fit
- Rushing the rebuild
The third option is to migrate the brownfields project to a brand-new codebase. This is the process of turning an underperforming Brownfields project into a modern, state of the art application. In order to achieve this WorkingMouse completes a rebuild using the existing application as a baseline.
Our Process to Rescuing Projects
Step 1: Support the existing application
We offer fixed term support applications that we have not developed. This allows the busi-ness process to be stabilised whilst the new application is being built. It also means we can access the knowledge of the old legacy system. To do this, we have a ruleset that the application must qualify for. Most importantly, there must be plans to rebuild within the next 6 -12 months.
Step 2: Scope the new solution
To avoid the mistakes of the past and ensure we don’t need to go through the rescue process again, it’s important to scope out a solution. It gives us an opportunity to determine what went well with the existing system and what could be improved moving forward.
Step 3: Develop, release and migrate
Lastly, it’s now time to develop. When developing we follow our Way of Working. This en-sures a consisted and de-risked agile approach to delivery. Using the Codebots technology enables us to leverage a platform that excels at Brownfields migrations. A careful data migration is required before moving across to the new application.
Digital transformation
Digital transformation can be a broad term, and there are many possible ways of achieving this. Are you struggling to maintain a relationship with an external vendor?
Are you being dragged down by technical debt? Or are you stuck in a rut with off-the-shelf software which leaves you no room to innovate?
Our scoping teams will investigate your software and business processes to get to the heart of the issue. This will enable us to provide you options for how best to proceed
Learn more about Digital Transformation