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Systems & delivery

Software project rescue: what to do when your development partner goes silent

Missed deadlines, unanswered messages and no access to the code. A calm, practical plan to take back control of a stalled project.

Written by Fawaz Gomaa7 min read
Software project rescue: what to do when your development partner goes silent03Systems & delivery
01

Step one: secure your access

Before arguing about deadlines, make sure you own what you paid for. Your business should hold the keys, not a single freelancer's personal account.

  • Source code repository with full history.
  • Hosting, domain and DNS accounts.
  • Database backups and environment credentials.
  • Third-party services: payments, email, maps, app stores.
02

Audit before you rewrite

The instinct is to throw everything away. Often that is the most expensive option. A short technical audit shows what is solid, what is risky and what is missing, so the next step is based on facts rather than frustration.

03

Restart with structure

Whoever continues the work, set the rules that were missing: small milestones, a staging link you can open any time, weekly updates and code pushed to your repository continuously. Silence becomes visible within days, not months.

“A healthy project is one you can inspect at any moment.”
Project rescueCode auditDelivery

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