Custom Software for Your Business
Automate tedious processes, reduce errors, and unlock your business’ growth
I create custom software for businesses.
Typical projects include:
- Inventory, order, or contract management
- Web apps or mobile apps to make client interaction easier
- Logistics optimization
- Integration with other services or providers
- Automation or assistance with manual tasks
My process supports your decisions
My process is designed to give you insight and let you make the best decisions for your business.
Here are some of the highlights of my process:
Initial consultation
This is a brief meeting, usually about 30 minutes, where we discuss your business’ needs, brainstorm a few general approaches, and determine mutual fit. I might give you suggestions for other things to try first, or refer you to someone else more suited to your project.
If we both agree to move forward, we’ll arrange the next steps, including project road-mapping.
Project road-mapping
During road-mapping, we’ll meet to do a deep dive into the business situation that you want custom software for. We’ll consider several possibilities, both for the business process and the potential software. We’ll evaluate how each approach might improve the business as well as disrupt it. Expect this meeting to take several hours. Finally, I’ll produce a report summarizing our findings and my final technical analysis. The report will outline several possible approaches and their trade-offs in benefit and cost to allow you to make an informed decision about how best to proceed.
Basic value first
Based on the approach you select from the road-mapping report, I’ll begin development along with any other investigation needed. The focus here is on delivering some basic value as quickly as possible. Depending on the project, this may be something that’s immediately usable, or it may be a prototype to explore some possibilities and resolve open questions.
Regular sync meetings
We will schedule regular sync meetings. These will happen in Google Meet, Zoom, or Jitsi, and will happen either weekly or every other week, depending on the needs of you, your business, and the project.
In these meetings, I will report on my progress and demonstrate anything that’s ready. We’ll discuss solutions for any issues that have come up, and decide on next steps. This is also a good opportunity to halt the project if future improvements no longer look like a good enough return for your investment.
Project tracker
As we brainstorm work to be done in the form of new features, issues, etc., we will add those work items to a project tracker that we both have access to. We can also add access to anyone else you want. This tracker will give us an easy way to keep track of what needs to be done and what status of work everything is in.
Deliverability/code-ownership
As new functionality becomes ready, I’ll typically make it available in a test environment that we will both have access to, along with anyone else you want. After we both review and approve the new functionality, I’ll deploy it into the production environment.
You or your business will own all of the code that you pay for. This will be reflected in official copyright declarations. Sometimes, I may need to write or include in your project some code that I own. This is a rare case, and we will talk about it in advance if it ever comes up.
The code for your project will be stored in a version-control system
(VCS). A VCS not only holds files, but remembers their complete edit history. You will have full access to this VCS, all of its files, and their edit histories. This is especially helpful for bringing in other software developers later on.
Communication access
We’ll communicate with each other through e-mail, our weekly meetings, and the project tracker. Additionally, we can communicate by phone, text messages, or some other messenger (like Telegram) as we both see fit.
For non-urgent items when I’m working with other clients, I might not respond until I’m focused on your project, or give only a brief acknowledgment.
For urgent items, such as issues from the project impacting your business, I’ll respond promptly and stay in contact until the matter has been resolved.
Start with a free consultation
The free initial consultation is a no-risk way to help you decide whether custom software is right for your business.
To get started, simply schedule the consultation on my calendar.