Strategy & Requirements

About 50% of all software projects fail.

That's right, the industry average is 50%! Software projects have some crucial differences from conventional engineering projects that make them harder to manage and more likely to fail (see key differences below).

What we offer

With our strategy & requirements planning service, we deliver expert guidance to maximize your odds of success. This may include user interviews, research of existing and alternative solutions,

Key benefits:

• Translate complex ideas into clear objectives and requirements based on your business goals and the needs of your customers, market, and technology, rather than an “engineer’s” view of what is technically feasible.
• A more thoughtful, consistent user experience that makes the product easier to develop, better to use, and more successful in the market.
• Reduced time to market and faster time to revenue by taking advantage of the latest technologies in the right places, without building technology into the product just for the sake of it.

Software's key differences

High uncertainty

Software is made of "thought stuff", so it's very hard to measure and plan. Therefore, projects need to be managed via risk elimination instead of sequentially.

Evolution not Assembly

Software evolves from simple systems to complex systems, there is too much complexity to assemble final pieces together and expect them to work.

Speed vs Technical debt

Deadline pressures just end up creating fast yet unmaintainable code. The faster you move in the short term, the slower you'll move in the long term.

Conservation of complexity

The easier something is for a user, the more complex the code must become. It's extremely important to start off with the simplest prototype possible. Add too much at the beginning and it'll never do anything truly well!

Time vs Scope

Unlike conventional projects, software scope isn't really measurable, features can be complete, but it's the level of completion that matters. As a result, it's better to set fixed deadlines and evaluate whatever scope is reached before doing another cycle than to set a fixed scope and watch the deadline or quality slip.

High Specialisation

Technical people understand what they do not manage and managers do not understand what they are managing. This imbalance requires trust, the delegation of responsibility, and more communication of the big picture than in conventional projects.