Process

What actually happens after you say yes

Four stations. You always know which one you are in, what is happening in it, and what you will be holding when it ends.

01

Idea

We work out what you are actually making.

Most first conversations are about a feature. The useful conversation underneath it is about who this is for and what they do today instead — and once that is clear, half the feature list usually turns out to be version two. We would rather find that out in week one than in month four.

  • A call about the problem, not the software
  • Who uses it, and what they use now
  • The smallest version that is genuinely useful
  • What is deliberately not in it yet
You end up withA written scope, a fixed price, and a date
Usually takes3 – 5 days
02

Design

You see it before it exists.

Real screens, in your colours, with your words in them — not a wireframe with grey boxes. You click through the whole thing and tell us what feels wrong while changing it still costs nothing. Almost everybody changes something here, and that is exactly the point of this station.

  • Every screen somebody will actually see
  • A look that belongs to you, not to a template
  • A clickable version you can send to a friend
  • Two rounds of changes, expected rather than tolerated
You end up withScreens you have signed off
Usually takes1 – 2 weeks
03

Build

It gets made, in the open.

You get a link on day one and it stays live for the whole build, so you watch the thing arrive rather than waiting for a reveal. We send a short note every week: what moved, what is next, anything that turned out harder than we thought. Nothing is a surprise at the end.

  • A working link from the first week
  • A note every Friday, whether or not there is good news
  • Tested as it is built, not at the end
  • Your feedback folded in weekly
You end up withThe thing itself, running
Usually takes3 – 8 weeks
04

Launch

It goes live in your name, and we stay reachable.

Everything is set up under your accounts — domain, hosting, email, the lot — so nothing is hostage to us. We watch the first fortnight closely, because that is when real people find the things no test does, and we fix what they find without an invoice.

  • Set up in your accounts, in your name
  • A walkthrough, recorded so you can rewatch it
  • Thirty days of fixes included
  • A plain-English handover of how it all works
You end up withA live product and the keys to it
Usually takes2 – 4 days
The durations are ranges from work of this size, not promises. Yours is fixed in writing at the end of the first station, along with the price.
Your half

What we need from you

A stalled project is nearly always one of these four, and it is nearly always because nobody said it out loud at the start. So: out loud, at the start.

One person who can make a decision. Two is workable; a committee is not.

A couple of hours a week during design, less during the build.

The words. You know your customers better than we ever will.

An honest date, if there is one. We can usually work to it if we know early.

And afterwards

Nothing here ties you to us

  • Nothing obliges you to stay. Plenty of projects end at launch and that is a fine ending.
  • If you want us around, it is a monthly arrangement you can stop any month.
  • If you would rather bring it in-house, we hand over to your developer and answer their questions for free.

The Friday note

Every week of the build you get a short message: what moved, what is next, and anything that turned out harder than we thought. It goes out whether or not the news is good, which is the only version of that habit worth having.

Changing your mind

Expected, and cheapest during design — which is exactly why design comes before anything is built. Once we are building, a change is priced before it is made, so you always decide with the number in front of you.