Recovering a stuck IT project: where to start
Freeze the scope, map production, restore a test path. A rewrite is rarely the first move.
A stuck project is rarely a mystery. The team is tired, there is no test path, production is a black box, and leadership wants a new start because the current one hurts.
Freeze
Write what is in, what is out, who decides. Without that, every workshop reopens the whole SI.
Map
Code, production, people, access, data. What still runs. What is dead. Who would notice.
Restore a test path
Until someone can say “this path works”, nobody will ship on a Friday. Automate the expensive paths. Document the holes.
Then ship
Small releases. Maintenance that is readable. A rewrite only if the map says the current base cannot hold.
That is the assessment, in practice. Under €2,000 in most cases. Then a mission, if it is worth it.