The Thing I Built That Was Too Late to Matter

I built a feature last year that I had been planning for months. It was good. It worked. It was also six months too late.

The people who wanted it had already found a workaround. The competitors had already shipped their version. The problem had already been solved by time, in a way I did not anticipate.

I had been so focused on building it right that I never asked whether it was still worth building.

The work was not wasted. It was just unnecessary. And I did not find that out until it was done.

Have you ever built something that was right and late? And how do you check timing before you start?