Service
Product development
From the first description of a problem to something that works — including the parts that decide whether it gets used at all.
This is the service for the case where the answer is not obviously a website, not obviously an app, and not obviously a spreadsheet replacement. Somebody has a problem, has described it, and does not yet know what shape the solution takes.
Deciding that shape is the work. Whether it runs in a browser or on a laptop with no connection, whether data arrives by import or by integration, whether it needs an account at all, and — the question that decides whether it survives its first year — who maintains it once it exists.
What this covers
- Working out what the thing should actually be, before anything is built
- Data flow: what comes in, what goes out, and in what format
- Offline behaviour, where the connection cannot be assumed
- A first working version narrow enough to be used and judged rather than discussed
- Store or deployment packaging, depending on what it turned out to be
- The maintenance question answered honestly, before the build rather than after
How it goes
Describe the problem
Not a specification. What goes wrong, how often, what it costs when it does, and what people do to work around it today. The workaround is usually the most informative part.
Argue with it
Including the possibility that no software should be built. Saying that out loud is cheaper for both of us than building something that gets opened twice, and I would rather lose the project than sell you that.
Build the narrowest useful version
Something small enough to put in front of real users quickly. What they do with it settles arguments that a meeting cannot.
Decide who owns it afterwards
Hosting, updates, and what happens when something changes in a year. A product with no answer here is a product with an expiry date nobody has written down.
Where this has been done
Three problems that each turned into a different kind of software.
Offline Catalogue & Quotation App
The problem was selling where there is no signal. The answer turned out to be a desktop application carrying the whole catalogue, not a web app.
Internal system — no public link
FishCast — Fishing Forecast
The problem was that weather apps report the weather but not whether tomorrow is worth it. The answer was a score, calculated on the device.
Partner Ordering Portal
The problem was orders arriving as email threads. The answer was one place where orders live, with per-partner pricing built into it.
Internal system — no public link
Questions about product work
We do not know whether we need an app or a website. Can you help decide?
That is exactly what this is for. The decision follows from the answers to a few concrete questions: where the work happens, whether there is a connection, who has to see the data, and who maintains it. Deciding it properly is cheaper than discovering it after the build.
Will you tell us if the idea is bad?
Yes. Saying so is cheaper than building it, for both of us. That includes the case where the honest answer is that your existing process is fine and the money is better spent elsewhere.
Does it have to work without internet?
Only if the work happens where there is none — a customer site, a trade fair hall, a van. Where it does, that decision shapes everything else and has to be made first, not bolted on. The offline catalogue application was built exactly this way.
How long does it take?
A first usable version is normally a matter of weeks rather than months, because it is deliberately narrow. Anything longer than that usually means the scope was not cut hard enough at the start.
What happens after it is built?
That gets answered before the build, not after. Hosting, updates, and who is responsible when something changes. Several projects here have been maintained over years rather than handed over and forgotten.
Have a problem and no idea what shape it takes?
Describe what goes wrong and what people do to work around it. What it should be built as comes out of that conversation.
Start a conversation