Strategy & Design
We work out what should be built, how it will sit alongside the systems you already run, and whether anyone will be able to maintain it in five years — before a line of code is written.
Bring us the problem in whatever state it is in. You get an architecture, a specification a delivery team can work from, and an honest view of what it will take.
The Client’s Situation
The expensive decisions happen before the code does
Software projects rarely come apart during development. They come apart because the wrong thing was specified, because nobody checked how it would sit alongside the systems that cannot be switched off, or because the architecture made sense to the team that built it and to nobody since.
The starting conditions are usually messier than anyone admits. Requirements are spread across documents and email threads. The process the software is meant to support has never been written down, because the people who run it simply know it. Internal IT has the domain knowledge but not the capacity, so by the time something arrives the need has already moved on.
And occasionally the blocker is not technical at all. Someone needs a working prototype to settle an argument, because the case cannot be made on a slide.
What you have before anyone starts building
Talk to usA specification that exists
Where requirements are currently spread across documents and inboxes, we write the functional specification, map the user stories, and define the tasks. A delivery team can work from what you end up with.
An architecture designed around what stays
Most enterprise software has to live alongside systems that cannot be replaced. That constraint shapes the design from the beginning rather than being discovered during integration.
Boring technology, chosen deliberately
We prefer proven platforms to new ones, because enterprise systems get maintained for years, usually by people who did not build them.
Something to look at early
A working prototype in front of you as soon as it is useful, so feedback changes the direction while changing it is still cheap.
The reasoning written down
Not only the decision but why it was made, so the next team inherits the thinking as well as the code.
What the work covers
1
Discovery and process analysis
Understanding the current way of working, the workflows around it, and where software should intervene — and where it should not.
2
Solution and system architecture
Designing how the parts fit together, how the new sits alongside the old, and how the result will be deployed, monitored and maintained.
3
Specification and backlog
Functional specifications, user stories, task definition, and the backlog and sprint structure to deliver against them.
4
Integration and API design
Designing the APIs and integration layers that let systems reach each other, including systems that were never built with an interface in mind.
5
Interface and experience design
Front-end design with real attention to how the thing gets used, rather than only whether it works.
6
Prototypes and proofs of concept
A working demonstration — sometimes to test a technical assumption, sometimes to settle a decision that has stalled.
Turn your data into a competitive advantage.
Whether you’re trying to prove marketing performance, modernise enterprise reporting, or build a stronger data strategy, we’ll help you create analytics that deliver measurable business value.
We start with the process, not the specification
We learn how the work actually happens
Software development is not only coding. It is understanding the process, the workflow around it, and the way people currently do the job, and being willing to say if a better way exists. Our business analysts do this alongside the engineers rather than ahead of them.
We design around what is staying
Most of this work lives inside existing systems, so the architecture gets designed with those systems in view: what they can expose, what they cannot, and where the seams should sit.
We write down what is going to be built
Functional specifications, user stories, task definition. If your requirements currently exist as a folder of documents and a long email thread, this is the step that turns them into something buildable.
We put something in front of you early
A working prototype as soon as it is useful, so we can gather feedback and change course before too much has been built on a wrong assumption.
Application Development
Why organisations bring us in
Bring us the problem, not the specification
Whether you have a process that needs automating, a system that needs opening up, or an argument that needs settling with something working, the first conversation is the same. What the job actually is, what it has to work alongside, and who will have to maintain the result.
What do our clients say?
Want to hear more from us?
For insights and updates straight your inbox. No spam, unsubscribe at any time.
Questions we are asked
We already know what we want built. Do we still need this?
Sometimes not, and we will say so. If you have a specification a delivery team can work from and an architecture that accounts for the systems around it, go straight to build. What we see more often is a clear idea of the outcome and no agreed view of how it fits what already exists, which is the gap this closes.
Can you work from the documentation we already have?
Yes, in whatever state it is in. Requirements arriving as a set of documents and an email thread is the normal case rather than the difficult one. Part of this work is turning that into functional specifications and user stories, and we would rather do that than ask you to do it first.
What is the delivery plan?
It comes out of this phase rather than going into it. Discovery and architecture produce the phased plan, the backlog and a realistic view of sequencing, including which parts can run in parallel and which have to wait for something else to land.
When will we see a first version of the system?
As early as we can usefully get one in front of you. Putting a working prototype up before too much has been built is deliberate: it is far cheaper to find a wrong assumption in a prototype than in a delivered system.
Can you make our existing systems available to AI tools?
Usually yes, and it starts with the same design work. The questions are what an assistant should be able to see, what it should be able to do, and how your existing permissions carry across, then building the API or protocol layer that enforces the answers. Systems with no interface at all are the common case rather than the exception.
Bring us the problem, not the specification
Whether you have a process that needs automating, a system that needs opening up, or an argument that needs settling with something working, the first conversation is the same. What the job actually is, what it has to work alongside, and who will have to maintain the result.
London Office
51 Lime Street
c/o HCR Law LLP
London EC3M 7DQ
United Kingdom
Zagreb Office
Centar 2000
Radnicka cesta 37a
10000 Zagreb
Croatia
Tell us what you are trying to build or open up, what it has to work with, and what state the requirements are in. An engineer will come back to you, not a salesperson.
"*" indicates required fields