Our process
Most development goes wrong in predictable ways: scope that was never written down, “done” that was never defined, and a change agreed in a chat message that nobody priced. This is the process we run to prevent those — published in full, so you can hold us to it.
Why this is public
Each stage has a condition for starting, something it produces, and a gate it has to pass before the next one begins. We don’t skip a gate to move faster, because every gate exists to prevent something that costs more later.
A short call to work out whether this is worth either of our time. What you're trying to build, what happens if you do nothing, roughly what budget you're working with, and what's driving the timeline.
What you get: An honest answer about fit. If we're not the right people, we'll say so and point you somewhere better.
A structured conversation, not a chat. We'll ask you to walk us through the last time the problem actually happened, step by step — because the general description is always tidier than the reality. Then we quantify it: how often, how long, who does it, what it costs when it goes wrong.
What you get: A written summary within 24 hours asking “did we get this right?” — so any misunderstanding surfaces before it's priced in.
For a clear project, we go straight to a proposal. For anything complex or still fuzzy, we'll suggest a paid discovery sprint that maps the process properly and produces a fixed quote — the fee comes off the build if you proceed.
What you get: A proposal with the problem in your words, what we'll build, what we won't, objective acceptance criteria, a timeline, and a fixed price.
A master services agreement covering the terms that don't change, and a statement of work covering scope, price, dates, and what “done” means. We send our AI use disclosure alongside it, unprompted.
What you get: A fixed price and a fixed scope in writing. Nothing starts until both are signed.
We confirm who decides, collect access, put a weekly demo in the calendar, and agree how we'll communicate. Then we measure the baseline: how long the current process takes, how often it happens, what the current error or no-show rate is.
What you get: Recorded starting numbers — so at the end, the improvement is measured rather than asserted.
Every week you get something you can click, plus a short written update: what shipped, what's next, what we need from you, and anything at risk. Anything outside the agreed scope goes through a written change order before the work happens, never a chat message.
What you get: A working demo every week. The gap between what you pictured and what exists is never more than seven days wide.
A checklist run against every release: every AI-generated file read by a human, authentication and authorization and payment paths reviewed line by line, tests passing on the critical paths, a licence and provenance scan, no secrets in the repository, dependency vulnerabilities checked.
What you get: The completed checklist, committed to your repository. “We reviewed it” is demonstrable rather than asserted.
We test against the acceptance criteria agreed in stage 3 — not a new set invented at the end. Anything that fails those criteria gets fixed at no charge.
What you get: A clear standard for “done” that was set before the work started, so it can't move in either direction.
Source code and repository ownership, a deployment you control, written documentation, a recorded walkthrough you can replay, a software bill of materials, and credentials transferred securely. Our access is removed or reduced, and we confirm that in writing.
What you get: Everything needed to run, change, or hand the system to someone else. Nothing locked to us.
Defects against the acceptance criteria get fixed. Small content and configuration adjustments are included. We log every request so you can see what's a defect and what's a new feature.
What you get: A defined window with defined coverage, so you know what you're getting rather than hoping.
We re-measure the baseline numbers from kickoff and tell you what actually changed — including if it changed less than we hoped.
What you get: Real numbers on whether the investment worked. If it's ongoing work, this is where a retainer conversation makes sense.
If you remember nothing else from this page, these are the commitments that matter most — and the ones worth asking any developer about, not just us.
The timelines above assume a couple of things, and it’s fairer to say so up front than to explain it later:
Where those slip, timelines move day for day. That isn’t a penalty — it’s the only way a fixed date can be honest when half the inputs are outside our control.
Related
Thirty minutes, free, no obligation. You'll leave with a clear view of what your project would take — whether or not you work with us.
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