Process

How we work.

We start with the people who will use what we build, and keep them involved until it is live and working.

Understand

We talk to the people who will use it and watch how the work gets done now: the workarounds and the spreadsheets that keep it going.

Conversations with the people who will use it, as well as the people paying for it
Time watching the work happen as it does today
A look through the spreadsheets, forms and workarounds already in use

You get: A plain-English summary of what we heard and what it means for the build.
Your part: Introduce us to the people who do the work, and lend us an hour or two of their time.

Define

We agree the problem in a sentence, what done looks like, and what we are leaving out for now.

The problem written as one sentence everyone agrees with
What done looks like, in terms you can check
What goes in the first release, and what waits

You get: A short brief, a page or two, with the scope and a price.
Your part: Make the calls on what matters most.

Sketch

Rough ideas on paper and screen, quick to make and cheap to throw away. Some of the best come from your own team.

Rough layouts of the key screens
Several options side by side before settling on one
Your team’s ideas in the mix alongside ours

You get: Agreed sketches of the main screens and how people move between them.
Your part: Tell us what is wrong with them, early and often.

Prototype

A clickable version people can try before the real build starts, so the surprises turn up while they are still cheap to fix.

A clickable version of the main screens
Tried by the people who will use it, while we watch
Changes made before any of it is built

You get: Something real to react to, and evidence the design works before it is built.
Your part: Put it in front of the right people.

Build

Short rounds of working software. You see it every week, and the people who will use it test it as we go.

Short rounds, each ending in working software on a test server
Automated tests written alongside the code
Your data moved across and checked as we go

You get: A demo at the end of every round, and a test site you can use any time.
Your part: Try each round and tell us what you find.

Look after

Data moved across and people shown around, then we host it, keep it updated, and keep improving it as you learn how it is used.

A launch planned with you
People shown around, with help on hand in the first weeks
Hosting, updates and backups handled by us
Improvements as you learn how it is used

You get: Software that keeps working, looked after by the people who built it.
Your part: Tell us what is working and what is not.

The stack

Tools that will still be supported in ten years.

We pick tools that will still be maintained in ten years, and use the same ones across everything we run, so a lesson learned once is learned everywhere.

Applications: Laravel and Livewire for web applications
Content sites: Silverstripe or Wagtail where editors need a CMS, plain fast pages where they do not. Never WordPress: we have cleaned up after too many hacked plugins.
Hosting: Servers we run ourselves, containerised and built from code
Integrations: If it can be connected to, we can make it work. Xero, Stripe, email and SMS, Claude, government systems: we have yet to meet an integration we could not solve.
Devices: Designed for phones first, then tablets and desktops, and tested on real devices before launch
Quality: Automated tests on every change, before every deploy

Hosting

We host what we build.

One point of contact

If something is wrong, you talk to the people who built it. There is no ticket queue between you and the fix.

Kept current

We look after the servers and frameworks under the sites we host, so they stay on supported versions.

Backed up, ready to restore

Sites and databases are backed up away from the servers they run on, and every server is built from code, so a failed server can be rebuilt and its sites restored.

Got something that needs building?

Tell us what it needs to do. We will tell you whether we are the right people for it.

Get in touch