How to Save a Failing Software Project: Best Techniques

Software development may go wrong in many ways and for many reasons. Fortunately, there are also proven techniques for saving failing software projects.

 

With over 20 years of experience in software development and project rescue services, Onix understands how to rescue a failing software project quickly and cost-effectively, achieving the best possible outcomes.

In this article, we share essential tips, insights, and inspiring success stories. You are also welcome to check our more detailed guide to rescue a failing software project.

 

Here’s tip 1: a structured approach is the key to successful project recovery. Let us show you how Onix does it. 

 

Strategies for Rescuing a Failing Software Development Project

Software project recovery involves initial analysis, strategic planning, and stabilization to resolve critical issues and align a project with business goals. Here’s how Onix implements these strategies to rescue failing software projects.

Our rescue process encompasses three phases:

 

1. Project audit
2. Redesign
3. Stabilization

Identifying key problems is the first step to saving a failing software project. During the audit, Onix’s experts would “look under the hood” of your project to discover failure points. They’ll

 

• review the code quality, backend architecture, and unmet requirements
• identify bugs, security gaps, and root causes of the project’s issues
• compare your actual business requirements with the current implementation

 

The experts classify their findings by severity and urgency and provide:

 

• Actionable recommendations for addressing them, considering your business goals.
• Recommendations for modernizing and scaling your product’s architecture and infrastructure. 
• A step-by-step guide to rescuing your project, including the necessary resources, responsibilities, and timeline.

 

If you’d like, we can hold an online review session, where our senior architect will walk you through the findings, explain what is wrong and why, and discuss how we can address the issues. If needed, we will discuss the following actions and the scope of work to save your failing software project.

The next phase is project redesign. It may involve the following actions: 

 

• refactoring or rewriting modules
• improving database structures
• modernizing legacy software 
• updating frameworks
• prioritizing and re-scoping features, if needed
• planning AI integration to give your product an edge
• aligning the project with your business goals  

 

Read also: The Travel Industry's Guide to Legacy System Modernization

 

For example, before Onix’s software engineers rebuilt the MisterB&B platform, the client sought to enhance the performance and expand the functionality of their travel booking website. 

 

Onix solved these and other problems by

 

• migrating the product from legacy to modern technologies to achieve better performance
• implementing reliable third‑party services to extend platform functionality
• building a fraud detection system to detect illegitimate and high-risk financial activities
• updating MisterB&B’s travel mobile apps and ensuring their proper functioning

 

These changes resulted in the platform becoming the “gay Airbnb,” with over 900,000 members and more than a million listings in 200+ countries.

 

For Secret Flights, Israel’s primary flight deal source and meta search engine, Onix performed a complete website overhaul, including documentation, development, design, and testing. The results included a reduction in reported bugs and downtime, as well as improved functionality and user engagement.

Onix’s experts utilize AI when preparing to rescue a failing software project, such as simulating scenarios, rethinking architecture, and planning for improvements.

 

You will receive a comprehensive roadmap for custom solutions, complete with a clear technical architecture, a backlog of fixes and improvements, and prototypes or diagrams illustrating the new approach.

 

These deliveries are used during the third phase of a rescue process — stabilizing the project. 

 

According to the new design, our programmers will

 

• fix critical bugs
• patch security holes 
• complete half-built features 
• improve performance
• integrate new components, such as AI modules and third-party services
• test everything to ensure high quality, usability, and security 

 

Often, a legacy system and outdated tech stack must be upgraded to save a failing software project. Onix’s software engineers will migrate your project from old frameworks or cloud-based solutions to newer, more efficient ones without losing data or functionality.

 

Read also: Planning Your Cloud Migration Strategy with Onix Experts

 

To enhance your product’s scalability, security, and maintainability, we would redesign its architecture. This may include moving to microservices, refining database design, or optimizing for cloud environments.

 
For instance, the owners of Bracketology (currently, America’s #1 reality TV fantasy gaming website!) decided to rewrite their website due to the limitations of its technology stack.

 

By the time they contacted Onix, its design and functionality had become outdated. The clients planned a rebranding, but with the existing codebase written in Ruby on Rails, any changes, new features, and scaling would be complicated and expensive.

 

They hired Onix to solve their problems, and over 7 months, Onix  

 

• prepared the technical documentation and development plan
• redesigned the platforms’ web version and adapted it to mobile browsers
• developed the architecture and programmed the web app’s front-end and back-end
• performed thorough testing and normalization of the product before release
• prepared the website content
• created a custom admin panel for the platform management

The primary challenge was related to how players visited the fantasy gaming platform. On the nights of the weekly episode releases, the number of users was reaching 100K at a time.

 

The app first ran well on Heroku, but as traffic increased, it began to experience issues and limitations. Heroku’s deployment API seemed to fail once or twice a week.

 

Requiring greater capacity and flexibility at minimal cost, the clients tasked Onix with optimizing the server and reducing maintenance costs. Our experts decided to migrate the application from Heroku to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

 

As it was a production application, there was no room for error. However, Onix’s DevOps engineer successfully migrated it to AWS in nearly 3 weeks without disrupting the platforms’ operations. After the migration and monitoring the load, we reduced the capacity of servers and services, cutting the costs from $800 per month down to nearly $450. 

 

The new Docker and AWS-supported environment fostered greater flexibility and productivity. Servers no longer required manual scaling and would automatically adjust to rises in the load on the memory or processor. Hosting bills also decreased.

 

While the website retained the ability to support the entire audience simultaneously, the new architecture empowered the clients to add new shows to the platform in just 3-4 weeks. And they did: currently, Bracketology.TV covers 35 American TV shows across romance, competition, cooking, talent, and awards categories.

 

Code refactoring and remediation are another essential part of rescuing a failing software project. Onix’s programmers will clean up messy code and eliminate technical debt. Disciplined refactoring will improve the readability, performance, and stability of your software product.

 

Another client, Ryan Rosenbaum of Phlex Sports Co, wrote of Onix’s work: “Post-refactoring, the codebase became maintainable and scalable, leading to a 30% reduction in bug reports related to legacy code problems. Through proactive bug fixing, the number of critical post-launch issues was reduced by 35%, resulting in a smooth UX and fewer support requests.”

Rigorous quality assurance and testing are at the heart of our project rescue process. We write missing tests, introduce automated testing, and thoroughly test all the features of your product to ensure its high quality and reliability.

 

After it is fixed, tested, and deployed, you will get a working, scalable software that finally meets your requirements and furthers your business goals.

 

Onix’s vast experience in rescuing failing software projects also allows us to recommend some best practices and techniques.

 

How to Rescue a Failing Software Project Smoothly and Effectively

 

Engage external experts

Engaging experienced software engineers is the first step to saving a failing software project. Seasoned solution architects and developers can quickly diagnose underlying problems, design effective solutions, and guide your product team through complex technical challenges during the project stabilization. 

 

However, if you are preparing to rescue a failing software project, one could suspect a lack of the necessary specific expertise and experience in your team. Or, your developers have worked on the product for so long they’re now unable or reluctant to perceive its flaws. They may also struggle to assess their own or their colleagues’ work objectively.

 

Luckily, there are consultants and agencies that specialize in rescuing failing software projects for companies and startups. For example, Onix prides itself on 

 

• 100% of project rescue workflows enhanced by AI
• 95% of clients saying we uncovered issues their previous team missed
• 87% of rescue audits leading to vendor change within 10 days
• 82% of clients returning with new projects
• 3+ years average client retention

 

External experts will contribute unbiased assessments, proven methods for identifying root issues and restoring project health, fresh perspectives, and innovative solutions, as well as tailored recovery plans that draw from their wealth of knowledge and successful cases.  

 

Moreover, if you hire offshore consultants and software engineers, you can save a failing software project while saving money! For example, Onix offers competitive outsourcing rates, which enable our clients in North America, the EU, the UK, Australia, and Japan to cut their planned IT project budgets by up to 50%. 

 

External experts may work alongside your in-house product team to facilitate overall project stabilization or perform specific tasks. For example, if your project’s reliability or scalability suffers, Onix can provide you with DevOps experts.

 

They can containerize and deploy your app to cloud infrastructure, set up CI/CD pipelines, improve load balancing, and ensure your system auto-scales to handle growth.

 

If your organization lacks technical leadership, you can request interim CTO support to guide the recovery. Onix’s senior architects can act as a fractional CTO, defining technical strategy, managing developers, and ensuring the technology aligns with your business goals.

Plan strategically

Whether you rely on internal resources or involve outside help, effective strategic planning is vital for rescuing a failing software development project. A well-developed strategic plan ensures that the correction of critical issues and other actions align with business goals and prioritizes them accordingly.

 

This involves:

 

1. building a project rescue plan
2. setting clear objectives
3. defining measurable outcomes
4. establishing realistic timelines
5. determining human, technical, and financial resources

 

Both internal and external specialists will benefit from a detailed step-by-step guide to rescuing your project.

 

Organize effective communication

Regular communication and transparency are also crucial for saving failing software projects: the management and software engineers must align their goals and expectations and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

 

Establishing clear communication helps maintain team coherence and gather and act on feedback throughout the project recovery process. 

 

For instance, at Onix, we hold daily stand-ups and weekly status meetings, utilize visual dashboards, and regularly inform stakeholders of our work progress. This helps maintain control over the project and assess the effectiveness of the strategic plan.

 

Use the Agile approach and AI tools

Agile methods facilitate flexibility, transparency, and motivation when rescuing a failing software project. 

 

For example, our Agile practices include:

 

• breaking the work into 2-3 week sprints
• regular demo progress
• prioritizing minor, tangible improvements

 

Volodymyr Katarovskyi, Onix’s Head of PM Department, explains: “We communicate regularly with clients at every stage to keep them informed and gather feedback. Moreover, these development cycles enable our team to make continuous improvements, avoiding development issues and delays flexibly.”

This creates a structured, iterative project rescue process that facilitates a timely delivery of a valuable software product.

 

Onix also utilizes artificial intelligence-powered strategies to rescue failing software projects more quickly than traditional teams. For example, we leverage AI-assisted code analysis and refactoring. Thanks to AI-powered testing tools, we catch issues early and twice as fast. The AI-powered platform Snyk helps scan code for security issues.

 

Read also: How to Speed Up Your Software Development Process

 

Innovate!

Product success requires thinking and acting beyond fixing the identified problems with your project. You need to refine and enrich your software to make it competitive.

 

This is how Adoric began its collaboration with Onix, which spans over 10 years now. Their initial request was a simple, short-term task to fix bugs on a website. As Onix’s experts delved into the project, they gained a deeper understanding of the marketing tool and its potential.

 

Based on this understanding and our vast experience, we proposed rebuilding the entire website from the ground up to transform Adoric into a global marketing service.

 

The result is over 100 corporate clients, more than 100K campaigns created, and over 3K impressions per minute.

 

Another client approached us with an outdated system. The Onix team ended up rebuilding its architecture, launching branded mobile apps, and integrating AI-powered automation into the digital solution for healthcare at home.

 

Now, Onix proactively suggests adding AI components to all clients looking to save a failing software project.

We also develop, upgrade, and future-proof enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management solutions. We will make your system stable, AI-optimized, and aligned with your business growth goals.

Wrapping Up

Effective rescue strategies and techniques allow companies to quickly stabilize a failing software project and address their immediate and long-term needs.

 

By objectively evaluating their software, developing strategic and step-by-step plans, and focusing on rapid stabilization using Agile methods and AI-powered tools, businesses can address the root problems and set their projects back on track. Hiring external teams, including experienced developers and consultants, further enhances the chances of rescuing a failing software development project.

 

Are you ready to start your project recovery? Having questions? Nothing is easier than contacting Onix right now!

 

FAQ

 

What are the common causes of software project failures?

Software project failures often stem from

 

• unclear goals and requirements 
• unrealistic expectations
• unrealistic delivery timelines
• inadequate planning
• poor communication between the development teams
• lack of transparency
• lack of comprehensive documentation
• inadequate testing
• wrong technology stack
• mismatching dev skill set
• ignoring software maintenance
• technical debt
• inadequate progress monitoring
• unforeseen risks
• inadequate risk management
• no backup and disaster recovery plan
• neglecting end-users

 

When does a software project rescue require external expertise?

The following issues may indicate that you may need to hire external rescue consultants and developers:

 

• Frustrated stakeholders requesting scope reductions or threatening to terminate the project
• Deadlines being missed repeatedly without a realistic course correction or revised delivery strategy
• Undocumented and/or unaddressed technical debt
• High defect rates in production or testing environments
• Key product team members (architects, tech leads, or product managers) leaving mid-project
• Budget overruns exceeding initial estimates without clear ROI or delivery milestones in sight
• Lack of visibility or metrics

 

What KPIs should be tracked when rescuing a failing software project and afterwards?

You should track:

 

• delivery velocity
• defect rates
• stakeholder satisfaction
• time-to-stability
• time-to-market