2 out of 3 IT projects fail – success is an anomaly, not the standard

And why prototyping and rapid iteration is the key to success.

Revolt BI

21. March 2025

Bent Flyvbjerg’s research on 5,392 IT projects shows that 66% of IT projects exceed their original budgets 3-4 times. This means that if a project was originally estimated at CZK 1 million, it often ends up at CZK 3-4 million and takes 5-10 times longer than expected.

Error rates are growing exponentially – large IT projects (enterprise software, government systems, etc.) tend to have even higher failure rates and budget multiples.

Cost overruns by sector

Analysis of budget overruns on major projects across sectors. Source: Bent Flyvbjerg, Oxford University.

Olympic Games 157%

Hydroelectric power plants 75%

                        IT projects
                        73%
                    

Buildings 62%

Aviation 60%

Roads 16%

Source: Bent Flyvbjerg, Oxford University.

Symptoms you probably already know

In fact, these problems often stem from a lack of preparation. Unknown technical challenges, scaling up and overly optimistic estimates indicate that the development team did not put enough effort into understanding the challenges and necessary functionalities.

Traditional approach

Constantly reworking code for “surprises”.

Cost: 3-4 times higher.

Our approach

Prototyping on paper and wireframes.

Cost: a fraction of the original price.

Prototyping and rapid iteration are the keys to success

Companies that excel in IT – and increasingly in other industries like Meta or SpaceX – understand that there is no perfect plan on paper. Projects succeed when rapid iterations help teams and customers gain experience and avoid problems quickly.

To reduce investment and iterate as quickly as possible towards the right product, we follow a clear, step-by-step process.
At the end of each step, we validate our process with you, ensuring that our development team and you have a shared understanding of what will be delivered next.