Services
I have worked all my career in the offshore outsourcing model and as an onsite consultant. I understand the nuances of the software services business, and the following services are aimed at maximizing the return on the software you build.
1. Reduce and Optimize Your Product Costs
Protect yourself from inflated estimates
Having worked in IT services companies from small shops to the largest contract houses, I have prepared project estimations myself. Estimates given to clients are usually 2x–5x the original effort. I know exactly where outsourcing companies pad estimates, and I can help you identify and cut that extra fat — without affecting the effort genuinely required by the tech team or the quality of the product.
Cost optimization by technology
IT vendors often propose solutions they already have on the shelf, or that reflect their own bias — for example, a Java-based stack for a simple-to-moderate web application just because that’s what their bench knows, when a Node.js approach would give you reliability, faster time to market and better cost. I recommend technology based on your product, not a vendor’s convenience.
Avoiding the “Change Request trap”
A Change Request (CR) is anything you pay for that wasn’t in the original contract. Vendors commonly bid the lowest price, deliberately under-specify or use ambiguous language in the requirements, and then recover their margin through a stream of CRs — effectively holding your project ransom. This is especially painful in fixed-bid contracts. I help you identify those weak spots and ensure requirements are captured properly as part of the contract, so the CR trap never opens.
2. Optimize Your Requirements for a Better Product
Improve your requirements the agile way
Most teams now execute projects in an agile model: requirements broken down into functionally independent user stories, collected into a prioritized backlog. I strongly suggest clients own their user stories — it keeps you in total control of requirements and removes ambiguity that vendors exploit. If needed, I help you write and structure them over a few working sessions.
More “bang for your buck”
There is a niche skill in identifying high-value, low-effort, dependency-free stories to deliver first. For example, in an Uber-like app I would prioritize mapping and routing, cab ordering and payment processing before sign-up and login — login is quick to build but delivers little early value. Front-loading value gets you the best modules of your application in the first few sprints.
3. Picking the Best Tools for Your Product
A surgeon’s scalpel is small, thin and razor-sharp; a chef’s knife is big and made for chopping. Your tech stack should be chosen the same way — fit for the job. When you research mobile technology you’ll find Native, React Native, Flutter, Ionic, Kotlin Multiplatform and more, and self-research usually ends in confusion. Pick a cross-platform framework for a hardware-intensive app and you can end up with three teams and a maintenance nightmare. An experienced professional can save you from that decision early, when it’s cheap to get right.
4. Auditing Product Architecture and Progress
I audit your entire application architecture and delivery progress, and provide an accurate audit and compliance report — with concrete recommendations to improve the architecture and keep the product on its blueprint.
5. Managing Your Development Team
Most clients want their application started and finished as quickly as possible, with minimal day-to-day involvement. I take responsibility for managing your offshore team and give you crisp weekly updates — freeing your time to think about the next thing you want to build.
6. Automation for Your Product
Automation eliminates manual labour, reduces human error and cuts long-run costs. A typical engagement: setting up DevOps for your application — automated test suites, CI/CD and build generation.
Development teams who need help at the technology level: see the Consulting page. Or contact me for more details on these services and for references.