Your situation already names the build work
Something about this build is fixed and is not yours to move. Name that, and which of seven kinds of software build this is stops being a matter of opinion.
The week you have just had
You have decided to build. You have told somebody with authority that it is happening. Since then you have had three conversations, and each one renamed the thing to whatever the firm across the table sells. One called it an MVP, another a platform, the third a replatform. Every explanation was convincing on its own.
You came out of the week less able to say what this is than when you went in. Weeks of planning, no clear roadmap, and a lot of talk about tools and stacks. Very little about what you are trying to reach. The hard part is what to call it, and so far nobody has helped with that.
Start from what cannot move
You already hold the fact that decides this. It is the thing in your situation that nobody involved can move: a date somebody else booked, customers already paying, a person who is blocked, or the absence of a figure you can defend. Say that one out loud, and the shape of the work follows from it rather than from whoever you spoke to last. That is the whole method, and it works in the next vendor call as well as here.
Two ways to name the work
The catalogue route asks you to learn seven definitions first. Naming from your fixed constraint needs a fact you already hold.
| From the catalogue | From the fixed thing | |
|---|---|---|
| Where you start | From the catalogueWith seven service names and their definitions | From the fixed thingWith the one thing nobody involved can move |
| What you learn first | From the catalogueThe vocabulary, before any of it applies to you | From the fixed thingNothing new, because the deciding fact is already yours |
| When two people disagree | From the catalogueWhoever explains their category most convincingly | From the fixed thingA date, paying customers, or a blocked person |
| When you find outthe expensive part | From the catalogueAfter the build, when the shape stops fitting | From the fixed thingBefore anything is committed, in one sitting |
Three situations that belong somewhere else
We have declined engagements where taking them would have benefited us but not the project. We are success partners. If we are not the right team for what you are building, we will tell you that.
Where we fit here
Where we fit
You are building something new, or replacing something that no longer carries what the business now needs from it.
You have made a commitment to somebody senior and now have to name the work sitting behind it.
You can point at one fact about your situation that nobody involved is able to change.
Where to go instead
The thing already works, and the real problem is that it falls over under load or needs keeping running.
You want a clickable prototype to put in front of real people before anything at all is built.
You need a supplier who already holds a named certification before the contract can be signed.
Two ways a wrong shape fails
Suppose the shape you pick is wrong. Would it be wrong as too small for something the business ends up running on, or too large for something nobody has confirmed yet?
Bought too small
Choose this when
You scoped a version to prove one thing, and within months the business is running on it.
It costs you
Less of it was written down, because that was not what it was for. It fails as an outage rather than a missing feature, and the fix competes with everything else you owe.
Bought too large
Choose this when
You are building against a fixed date, for demand that nobody has yet confirmed with money.
It costs you
The schedule runs on reasoning about behaviour you have not seen. You reach the date with more built than anyone asked for, and the part that mattered arrives last.
Which kind of build is yours
Find the one thing in your situation that is already fixed and cannot be moved. The set it sits under holds the work, and the link under that holds the detail.
A date is fixed
Somebody outside the project has already committed to it.
- MVP developmentA funding or launch date that will not move.
- Ecommerce developmentA booked drop, a peak season, or a stalled replatform.
Already carrying load
Real customers depend on it today.
- SaaS developmentCustomers are paying for it right now.
- Custom software developmentIt has to stay maintainable five years from now.
The software has to be bent
A packaged product would have to be configured around the work.
- ERP developmentNobody can say what a job actually cost.
- CRM developmentBookings, guests and service history in separate systems that do not agree.
A person is blocked
Routine changes wait on one individual.
- Headless CMSYour editors wait on a developer to publish.
Shipped through a store
The delivery target is an app store, not a URL.
- Mobile app developmentIt ships through an app store, not to a URL.
No number yet
The figure has to come before the build.
- Product discoverySomebody senior will ask where the figure came from.
What happens after you pick
01
First call
A shared read of your situation. You bring no specification and no view on the stack, because stack selection is part of scope.
You get
A written summary of what you said and what we heard the shape to be.
02
Scope
The shape of the work, and the stack decision with its reasoning. In most cases refining continues alongside the build.
You get
A scope statement naming what is in, what is out, and what it depends on.
03
Build
Work runs against that scope, and you see the thing itself rather than a status update about it.
You get
Working software you can open and try, at every point where something is finished.
04
Changes
A written change note, agreed before anything moves. Nothing in the build moves on a re-scope you have not explicitly accepted.
You get
A change note you accept in writing. Nothing in the build moves on a re-scope you have not accepted.
One thing you can check before anything else
Open any of the seven above. Each one tells you early who it is wrong for, and where those people should go instead. Do that before you speak to anybody here, and ask whoever else is bidding for the same work to show you theirs in the same form.
- Each one names who it is wrong for, early
- Each one says plainly what it will not do
- Each one points you at a better route, not back here
- Each one is readable in full before you contact anybody
Questions before you pick
The practical ones, answered here so you do not have to ask them twice.