Guides
Answers to the questions that come before a project.
Written from how we actually work: what to check when a project is failing, how to specify one so it can be priced honestly, and how to decide what to build at all.
Project rescue
- Do you own your software? A source code and access checklistPaying for software is not the same as owning it. A practical checklist of the code, accounts, credentials and rights to confirm before a vendor relationship ends.
- Fix or rebuild? How to decide what to do with a failing software projectHow to decide whether to fix, finish, shrink or rebuild a failing software project — what to check first, the questions that decide it, and the traps on both sides.
- Signs your software project is off track, and the questions to askThe early warning signs that a software project is drifting — in status reports, demos, scope and the team — and the questions that tell you how serious it is.
Requirements
- How to write a functional design documentWhat a functional design document contains, how to write each section, and the tests that tell you it is good enough to quote and build from — with a real example.
- Why software projects fail at requirements, and how to stop scope creepMany software projects that fail were lost before the build started. Where requirements go wrong, why scope creeps, and the practices that keep a project bounded.
Operations software
- Off-the-shelf or custom software? How to decideWhen to buy software, when to build it, and when the right answer is both — a practical guide for operations leaders weighing SaaS, ERP modules and custom builds.
- Replacing spreadsheets with software, without losing what worksHow to move an operation off spreadsheets without losing what works in them — which sheet to replace first, what to keep, and how to avoid rebuilding the same mess.
Compliance and AI
- Privacy by design for custom software in CanadaWhat Canadian privacy law means for software you build — collection, consent, retention, access requests and audit — and how to design them in from the start.
- Using AI in a law firm or regulated practice without taking on the liabilityThe real risks of AI in law firms and regulated practices — invented citations, confidentiality, unexplainable decisions — and the controls that make it usable.
Buying software
- How to choose a software development companyWhat to look for in a software development partner, agency or freelancer — the questions that reveal how they scope, price, test and hand over, and the red flags.
- What drives the cost of custom softwareWhy custom software quotes vary so widely, what actually drives the cost, and how fixed-price and time-and-materials contracts move the risk.