Many website strategies are glorious, sold as amazing improvements to get everyone on board, like promising a castle with a moat. Those involved are probably expecting unicorns, butterflies, rainbows and a steady stream of milk and honey.
But then what happens? You wind up with a tent surrounded by water.
This happens when the strategy is either unfocused or was just never possible in the first place.
If a list of desired outcomes were made, perhaps it said "water" and "protection from the wind," and the implementation team could point at these and say that the dwelling got both of those things. But it missed the core underlying need, which is perhaps protection from invasion. But, more likely, the initial strategy just wasn't thought through and a single family home would have been better in the first place.
This happens all the time, in both broad strategies and requirements gathering. In strategy definition, sometimes the vision just isn't clearly nailed down, so in our example maybe everyone is thinking something different: many are thinking about unicorns, others medieval castles, others dragons, some current day ruins, etc. In requirements definition, this can result from an overextended technical team with a weak process, not spending the time to clearly define the requirements, then taking a long time to deliver something that does not meet the client's expectations.
