Real engineering failures instead of success stories

Summary

FailHub helps people avoid mistakes by learning from others who already made them.If your experience can help someone else, share it here.Share your storyEvery week, FailHub covers three real failures from three different people working in tech, each with their own experience and perspective.Let’s start with the first one. Enjoy ☺️What happenedThe project started great. Requirements were clear, we had a rough plan, and everyone seemed aligned. The scope was “mostly agreed on”, good enough, let’s go.Then it started. Someone would add a “small clarification” here, the team would decide, “since we’re doing this anyway, let’s make it a bit better” there. Each change looked minor, but our target kept getting fuzzier. We kept working, but where we were headed became less and less clear.At some point, it became obvious: we were doing extra stuff. Instead of quickly solving the business problem, we got stuck on details nobody needed. We polished quality where speed mattered. We chose what felt “technically right” instead of what was actually needed.The problem wasn’t that the scope changed, that’s ok. The problem was pretending it wasn’t changing. Work kept getting added quietly, and the team just accepted it without pushback.I also realized something important: team flexibility is often measured by how easily they take on extra work. When a technical team says yes to everything, it signals “we have no limits.” But that kind of “flexibility” usually ends badly, with lost focus and poor results.The technical team understands real constraints better than anyone: time, people, quality. When there’s no pushback, the business doesn’t see a problem. Not because they don’t care, but because they think everything’s fine.The lessonClear boundaries and clear goals make teams stronger. When everyone knows what we’re building, why it matters, and when it’s due, work flows better. When the scope starts growing, you can’t stay quiet. You need to call out what’s changing and how it’ll imp...