IT Development

The problem

Development is expensive, and the people paying for it are usually the least equipped to judge whether it is going well. Progress is reported in percentages that never quite reach a hundred; estimates are produced under pressure and then treated as commitments; and the difficult truths — that the design will not scale, that the integration was underestimated, that the team is one person deep on the critical component — surface late, when the options are worst.

Meanwhile a codebase accumulates decisions nobody remembers making. Every new feature costs a little more than the last, and the day arrives when a change that should take a week takes a quarter.

How we help

• Technical due diligence — an honest read on a codebase, a team and a delivery plan, whether you are investing, acquiring or inheriting.
• Architecture and design review — will this survive the load, the integrations and the next three years of change? If not, what is the least disruptive route to something that will?
• Estimating and planning — estimates built from evidence and stated with their assumptions, so a plan can be defended rather than merely asserted.
• Delivery management — visible progress against agreed outcomes, risks raised while they are still cheap, and a rhythm the team can actually sustain.
• Team building and mentoring — strengthening the people you already have, and being clear about the gaps that only hiring will close.

What an engagement looks like

We work with your developers, not around them. As experts in your business, you need to write the content. We can then either bring that content to life or work with your team to bring our experience to speed development. Reviews are typically measured in days. Delivery engagements run as long as they are useful and no longer — we would rather hand back to your team early than become a fixture.