For you to be reading this, the chances are that you have a business challenge that you would like to solve with technology. You might want to launch a new product or tech start-up, do more with your data, automate a time-consuming process, or communicate more effectively with your customers. Though you know your project will help support your goals, you need a ballpark quote to help you to evaluate whether the value your ideas bring commercially is worth the amount of investment.

If this describes you, then please get started by requesting a free quote, and we will be in touch via email or phone to discuss further. Respecting your time and need to make quick business decisions, if we give you a phone call, then we aim to provide a ballpark quote on that call.

If our ballpark quote is in line with your expectations, and you like what you hear about our approach and processes, then we would recommend arranging a slightly longer face-to-face meeting or video call. This is a chance for us to meet, and make sure we are the right fit for each other.

The planning process involves a longer meeting where we discuss your requirements in much more depth. The aim of the meeting is to agree on a plan that all parties believe in, a plan that aligns with your business objectives, including optimising to meet target delivery timescales and budgets.

After the planning day, we write up an in-depth technical specification and create the user journey wireframes (UX).

Now that the plan is fixed, and we have a specification, we provide you with an itemised fixed-price quote. This quote allows you to make decisions on the priority of features based on the time each one takes, without you having to deeply understand the depths of the technology behind the scenes.

Now you have an itemised quote, if you want to work with us, then you can decide whether to order the entire project or to split it into phases. We recommend keeping your initial launch version as lean as possible, allowing you to launch quickly so you can begin testing your assumptions. Deciding which tasks are completed at what times might also be a factor considered in the planning process.

We wrap up the plan, specification and wireframes into an agreement document that makes it clear what you are getting, for what cost, when payments are due, and what the high-level project milestones are. Typically, we will split payments into chunks across the life of a project, where payments are aligned to the agreed milestones.

There is the option to work in a Waterfall or Agile manner, depending on which approach suits you best. To achieve budget certainty, most clients opt for a waterfall approach for their phase-1 project.

Once you sign the contract, we begin work on the agreed project start-date. Before we begin on the design or development, we get the team together to discuss the technology. This means planning the structure of the code and database so that your project will stand the test of time and support future extensions.

Now we take the wireframes, optimised with user experience in mind, and make them POP! This process involves out designers creating graphically designed mock-ups that look and feel like the final end-product, in line with your logo and brand guidelines. We will provide a handful of screens to you for review before we do the rest, so you can make changes and sign-off on the style.

Once we’ve completed the graphic designs, you’ll have the chance to feedback on those designs, ensuring you are happy before signing off on them.

Next, we code-up the graphic designs into web or mobile-app ready interfaces. This stage is the look-and-feel without any working functions.

With the specification, wireframes, and graphic design signed off, we are now ready to begin the bulk of the development work. This typically involves setting up the database structure, the back-end admin panel, any API’s and functional coding. We go through the specification, line by line, making sure what we build aligns meets the plan that’s agreed.

Internally we have processes to manage quality, such as weekly masterclasses, code reviews, one-to-ones, project reviews and programming standards.

Internally we test the project in cycles as we complete the groups of requirements from the specification. Once the project is feature-complete, we do a large round of internal testing, checking for bugs, cross-referencing the specification, wireframes and graphic designs for accuracy.

Once we’ve completed internal testing, we will hand over to you for a period to test (acceptance testing) and review that you are happy. Should you have feedback, or identify any issues, then we will collate that feedback and action any in-spec bugs or requests.

Once testing is complete, we ask you to sign off on the project.

Once the project is signed-off, we go through a process of deployment and launch. For portals, web apps and websites this means putting the code live on the relevant server environments, making sure the domains point at the right place. For mobile app projects, this likely involves deploying the app to the iOS and Android app stores.

We have our own hosting infrastructure that is suitable for most projects. If you anticipate large amounts of users or resource use, then we may explore the option of configuring your own dedicated or cloud hosting environment.

We also offer options for ongoing support and maintenance should you think your project requires this.

Once your project is launched, we can either treat new requirements as mini-projects, going through smaller cycles of planning, quoting, signoff and development. Or, if you’d like to implement a lot of new features each month, then you may prefer to engage us for a development retainer, where we schedule a fixed number of hours each month to extend your project.

Have more questions about our process? Check out our frequently asked questions page, or please contact us to ask us directly.