Ask HN: When did you realize a project has entered “Development Hell”?

Posted by zacistan on Sunday February 17, 2019 @03:49PM
from the ask-hn dept.

My company has been developing a project that was supposed to release after 9 months, but it has been over 2 years without anything moving to production. With 1000s of man-hours used and deadline after deadline being missed, I'm worried we are now in development hell. Do any of you have experience with a project on development hell, and what are the signs of development hell?

( 3 comments | 8 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: When did you realize a project has entered “Devel... by laurentl on Sunday February 17, 2019 @05:18PM (#19187262)

I don’t want to sound glib, but if you find yourself asking if you’re in development hell then the answer is probably yes.

Other than that meta-remark, you can take a look at how the cost and delay estimates evolve after a deadline is missed. Projects slip, but usually each missed deadline gives more visibility into the actual delivery date. If the updated budgets/plannings don’t converge, then this means the underlying project hypothèses are false (e.g. the technical complexity was completely underestimated, or the marketing target is moving faster than the project).

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Re:Ask HN: When did you realize a project has entered “Devel... by smt88 on Sunday February 17, 2019 @05:26PM (#19187293)

Development hell is caused by management hell and can't be fixed with person-hours. It always requires new managers. Management will often swap out devs trying to fix it, but I've never seen that work.

Finishing a 9-mo project a little late isn't a great sign. It should at least result in a usable beta because it's such a long timeline. There are many months to change course and narrow the features in a smart way.

2 years for a 9 mo project is a garbage fire. It was in development hell a long time ago.

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Re:Ask HN: When did you realize a project has entered “Devel... by iceninenines on Sunday February 17, 2019 @06:35PM (#19187608)

Change departments if possible, or preferably, change employers because it's unlikely to improve and you shouldn't wait around and suffer unnecessarily when other shops exist that are relatively better.

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