Every technology leadership team and product team at a startup is excited to build the next big thing — a software product that would change industries, disrupts markets and delivers real value to customers.

But what happens when a project, despite months of effort, never sees the light of day? When lines of code written with passion and purpose are left unused, gathering digital dust in a forgotten repository?

At ISHIR, we’ve seen firsthand how failing to demo a product to real users can lead to wasted effort and burnout among agile development teams.

Today, we’re sharing the story of one such project — a promising software initiative that ultimately met its untimely demise, not because it wasn’t useful, but because it was never truly tested in the real world with real users.

The Software Product That Was Never Launched

A prominent healthcare provider assembled a team of skilled software developers, product managers, and designers to develop a software product that promised to revolutionize their customer experience.

The product team worked relentlessly, six months of coding, refining, and iterating, without ever putting the software product in front of actual users.

Instead, software updates were shared in closed-door meetings with leadership and product teams. Demos, when they happened, were controlled presentations designed to impress the investors rather than solicit real feedback from the actual users.

There were no iterative improvements based on real customer interactions, no pivots based on actual needs, just biased assumptions, voodoo pains, polished slides, and internal conversations. Many times ego sabotages product success.

Then came the reality check.

When the leadership finally decided to introduce the software product to customers, the response was underwhelming. The software product didn’t solve the problem it was supposed to solve in the first place.

User experience was flawed, customer journeys were never aligned with real customer workflows, lacked key integrations, and solved problems in a way that made life harder and complex, not easier. By the time these issues surfaced, budgets were exhausted, enthusiasm had waned, and leadership had moved on to new priorities.

When the client came to us to for project rescue the cost of repurposing the existing system was too expensive to consider without additional funding round.

The project was quietly shelved, another casualty of the digital graveyard.

Here are the lessons that came out of this that we wish to emphasize.

The Cost of Not Demoing to the end-Users

This scenario isn’t unique. We have seen this repeatedly, clients make the mistake of keeping software products locked within the confines of internal teams, “stealth mode”, delaying exposure to actual end-users until it’s too late. The consequences?

• Wasted Development Hours – Thousands of hours spent building features that go unused.
• Loss of Developer Morale – Engineers want to see their work make an impact. When that doesn’t happen, they leave because they feel demoralized.
• Missed Market Fit – Without regular feedback, even the best ideas can miss the mark.
• Burns Product Teams – Makes great engineers and product teams feel their work and hard work didn’t matter.

The Power of Product Demo Days

A simple yet effective way to prevent this fate? Schedule Regular Product Demo Days with end-users and beta-customers.

• Real-Time Feedback – Frequent product demos keep teams connected to real user needs, ensuring they are building a product that truly matters.
• Iterative Improvements – Continuous input allows for small course corrections instead of major pivots after it’s too late.
• Stakeholder Alignment – Engineers, developers, designers, leadership, and end users stay on the same page, reducing misalignment and last-minute surprises.
• Motivated Teams – When developers see their work making a difference, they stay engaged and excited about their contributions.

Great Software’s are Build With Users, Not Just for Them

If you’re leading a software development company, don’t wait until launch day to show your work to real users. Demo product early, demo often, and let feedback guide your roadmap. Otherwise, you risk turning months of effort into nothing more than an expensive lesson in what not to do.

Have you ever been part of a software project that was built in a vacuum and never saw the light of day?