How we work
The questions we ask before writing any code
By the time most firms start, they have already decided to build. We start somewhere else, with a set of questions designed to find the real problem before committing to an expensive answer. Often they reveal that the issue is workflow, process, or visibility, not software at all. Here are the ones we ask first.
The questions
What breaks if you do nothing?
If the honest answer is not much, that is worth knowing before spending. Sometimes leaving it alone is the right call.
Where is the workaround?
The spreadsheet or manual step running alongside the official system is a precise map of where the software stopped fitting the business.
What is that spreadsheet actually replacing?
A shadow tool is a free requirements document. It shows exactly what the business needs that the current system does not provide.
Who owns this workflow?
If no single person owns it, the problem is often organizational, and software alone will not fix it.
Is this workflow your competitive advantage?
If yes, it is a candidate to build and own. If it is a commodity, it is a candidate to buy.
What happens at the busiest moment?
For transaction heavy work, behavior under peak load is the whole game, and the thing most likely to be underestimated.
If you could not build anything for 12 months, how would you solve this?
The answer usually reveals whether the real issue is software, workflow, process, staffing, or visibility.
FIG. 01 Every question converges on the same target: the real problem, found before any code.
Why we work this way
Every one of these questions can talk us out of a project, and sometimes should. That is the point. The goal is not to find a reason to build. It is to find the real problem and the simplest thing that solves it. More often than people expect, that is smaller, cheaper, or different than the build they came in asking for.
Want us to ask these questions about your situation?
That is exactly what a strategy call is, a diagnosis, not a pitch.
