Software
consultancy,
planning and
technical advice
Most software goes wrong before any code is written. The wrong thing gets built, in the wrong order, on a platform that can't carry it.
* Work out what to build, in what order, and what it will cost. Practical planning and technical review from a team that also builds the software.
Work out what to build
Work out what to build before you pay to build it
Before a project starts, we help you work out what’s actually worth building. What matters most. What it’ll cost. What you’re committing to for the next few years. And what happens if the assumption underneath it turns out to be wrong. If an existing system is the problem, we’ll look at it, then tell you honestly whether to fix it or replace it.
This isn’t a report-writing service. Our software consulting comes from building and running software ourselves. So what we recommend is shaped by what survives a real release.
What is actually worth building:
01
What matters most
02
What it will cost
03
What you're committing to for the next few years
04
What happens if the assumption underneath it turns out to be wrong
Where we help
Where
we help
Most engagements start here, and they're often short. A few weeks of software development consultancy that saves months of the wrong build.
Related: Custom software development · Dedicated development teams
What to build, and in what order
A plan you can act on and defend
Cost and timescale
Realistic numbers before you commit budget
Technical due diligence
Technology and IT due diligence: a software audit of speed, security, stability and technical debt
Build or buy
When custom software is worth it and when it isn't
Choosing the technology
With the trade-offs stated openly
DevOps consulting
Deployment, environments and what it costs to run
Planning a rebuild
How to replace a platform without stopping the business
Managing other suppliers
Keeping external vendors accountable
Overseeing delivery
Fractional CTO cover, with progress reporting you can actually read
Clear
answers
What people ask before any of this starts — including what we cannot promise.
A prioritised plan you can act on, with the reasoning: what is worth building, in what order, what it would cost to build and to run, and what happens if the assumption underneath it turns out to be wrong. It is yours to act on, with us or without us.
Often a few weeks — frequently the few weeks that save months of the wrong build. It is scoped to the decision you are trying to make rather than to a fixed package.
Yes, that is a large part of this: technical due diligence, reviewing an existing system, and telling you whether to fix it, modernise it in place or replace it. We will also review work in progress from another supplier, and manage other suppliers where that is what is needed.
If that is the answer, yes. We would rather tell you a thing is not worth building than take the work and have you find out later. The same applies to build-or-buy: sometimes the honest recommendation is the off-the-shelf tool.
No. The plan is a deliverable in its own right, and it is written so another team could pick it up. Plenty of clients do the planning with us and then decide, which is the point of separating the two.
Next step
Discuss your
project
Tell us what you're trying to do. We'll tell you what it would take and how we'd approach it, and plainly if we're not the right people for it.