Our Approach to Software Development

Whether you’re large or small, blue-chip or not-for-profit; we’ll provide you with the same friendly, responsive and professional service

We have never believed there is One True Way of getting software into the world. Instead, we believe above all in being responsive. And that customer-focused approach has taught us a lot. Experience of customers with specific and detailed challenges in various aspects of what they want and how they want it has shaped the way we approach software projects from initiation to completion.

There is no special formula here. Except this – we listen. Before anything else, we take the time to hear what you’re saying…at length, and in detail. When we are confident about our level of comprehension it’s possible – probable even – that we will challenge your thinking with the aim of adding value to the process through investigating new possibilities. We aspire to take nothing for granted, and that very much includes our own thinking. The objective is to reach an agreement about just what the software requirement is in detail, so we can then develop and implement a response to your business needs.

We pay attention

In listening to so many customers, there are some points we have learned to pay particular attention to:

• Are we ready to work together yet? Are all the resources in place for this to be an effective collaborative process?
• What is the core of your business need? Can we boil it down to a flagship statement and feel with confidence based on experience and talent it’s something we can deliver?
• In terms of time and money, what is the software project likely to require, if only approximately? And what is the best route to attaining that outcome, given foreseeable obstacles?

It helps that we have come up with solutions for a wide range of common problems, such as using commercial agreements that allow us to avoid issues naturally present in software development contracts. And we will detail just what’s happening throughout the process making use of Trello to ensure you can be clear on precisely where our approach is creating value for you. That kind of transparency typifies the way we work.

An approach rooted in experience, not theory

Any software project necessarily starts at a point of minimum knowledge – how could it be otherwise? It’s only by making incremental steps from there into software development that progress happens. And considerable experience with countless customers is a reliable guide that along the way there will be three areas which inevitably consume resources:

• Features are those mission-critical aspects of the software project it is built on.
• Grind is that work which is necessary to the software project, but does not in and of itself seemingly generate progress, and may even appear to take us back.
• Troubleshooting is what’s necessary to remove bugs and deal with unexpected and unwanted outcomes such as regressions.

Principles that drive achievement

To make sure we are on track – which means skewing consistently towards features and away from grind and troubleshooting as much as possible – we make use of systems that we have found support our focus on results:

• Outcome thinking is based on our knowledge of the purpose of the software for a range of users and in the context of your business.
• Story mapping keeps us on track with regard to milestones such as realising software product features.
• Using customer personas and knowing your priorities across a range of scenarios, we stay focused clearly on your business needs, and will do more research to support that outcome if it proves necessary.

Week by week, we establish a set of priorities – they are recalibrated regularly in line with progress and deliverables. Whether we are engaged commercially as a fixed term project or making progress using our unique Team-as-a-Service (TaaS) approach, we remain flexible to meeting your needs and driving your software project forward to delivery.

At this stage, you may already know either that we are a good match for you, or have had the realisation you will need to call us to ask some questions and listen to the quality of our answers. Whichever best describes your response, call us now on +44 (0)800 133 7948 for a free no-obligation consultation.

Our work

Two of our recent software projects, see Our Work for more Case Studies.