Guides Overview
Practical guides for planning software projects, making technology decisions, and working effectively with a development partner. Process, not theory.
How to Build a WordPress Plugin With an External API
Who This Guide Is For This guide is for developers building a WordPress plugin that communicates with an external API, whether that is a SaaS platform, a data provider, an AI service, or your own backend. You understand WordPress plugin basics (hooks, filters, admin menus) and want to build a plugin that is reliable in production, handles API failures gracefully,...
Read guideHow to Build a Reporting Dashboard With Real-Time Data
Who This Guide Is For This guide is for developers building reporting dashboards that need to display data that updates without the user refreshing the page. You are working with a web application that has meaningful data: sales figures, system metrics, user activity, operational KPIs. The business wants a dashboard that feels alive rather than stale. You understand basic web...
Read guideHow to Write an RFP for Custom Software
Who This Guide Is For Procurement managers, IT leads, and business owners who need to formally solicit proposals from multiple software development agencies. This guide is for situations where a structured evaluation process is required, whether that is internal governance, competitive bidding, or a complex project where multiple perspectives are valuable. Before You Start An RFP is not always necessary....
Read guideHow to Write a Brief for a Software Agency
Who This Guide Is For Anyone preparing to approach a software development agency with a project, whether you have a detailed specification or just a rough idea. A good brief saves time for both sides and leads to better proposals. If you are considering a more formal competitive process with multiple vendors, How to Write an RFP for Custom Software...
Read guideHow to Set Project Milestones With Your Agency
Who This Guide Is For Business owners and project sponsors working with an external development agency who want to structure the engagement around clear milestones that provide visibility into progress and tie payments to deliverables. Before You Start Milestones are not tasks. A milestone is a meaningful checkpoint: a point where something tangible is delivered or demonstrated. “Homepage designed” is...
Read guideHow to Scope an MVP
Who This Guide Is For Founders, product owners, and business leaders planning the first version of a custom software product or internal tool. This guide helps you decide what goes into v1 and, equally important, what does not. For the broader planning process, How to Plan a Custom Software Project provides the full framework. Before You Start An MVP is...
Read guideHow to Prepare Your Team for a New System
Who This Guide Is For Business owners, operations managers, and project leads who are rolling out a new software system and want the team to actually use it, not resist it, work around it, or give up within three months. Before You Start Adoption is the real project. Building or buying the system is the easy part. Getting people to...
Read guideHow to Plan an Internal Tools Project
Who This Guide Is For Operations managers, IT leads, and business owners who need to build or commission custom internal tools: software used by your team (not your clients) to manage operations, data, or workflows more effectively. For the broader custom software planning process, Custom Software Development explains how we approach that work. Before You Start Internal tools are not...
Read guideHow to Plan an API Integration
Who This Guide Is For Business owners and project managers who need to connect two or more systems and want to understand how to plan the integration properly, whether you are building it in-house, using a development partner, or evaluating middleware tools. If you are new to the concept, What Is an API Integration covers the fundamentals before you dive...
Read guideHow to Plan an AI Agent Implementation
Who This Guide Is For Business leaders and operations managers who are considering deploying AI agents to handle repetitive interactions, and want a structured approach rather than jumping in based on hype. Before You Start Three things are worth settling before any work begins. First, understand what AI agents actually do. An AI agent is software that can take actions...
Read guideHow to Plan a Workflow Automation Project
Who This Guide Is For Operations managers and business owners who want to automate repetitive manual processes but are not sure where to start, what to automate first, or how to approach the implementation. Before You Start Automation amplifies processes, good and bad. If a process is broken, automating it makes the broken process faster. Fix the process first. Start...
Read guideHow to Plan a Website Redesign
Who This Guide Is For Business owners and marketing managers who know their website needs to change but want to approach the redesign strategically rather than jumping straight into visual design. Before You Start Understand why you are redesigning. “It looks outdated” is not a strong enough reason by itself. Define the business problem: poor conversion rates, inability to update...
Read guideHow to Plan a Reporting Dashboard
Who This Guide Is For Operations managers, business owners, and team leads who need a centralised view of their business metrics but are not sure where to start with requirements, data sources, or design. Before You Start Decide whether you need custom or off-the-shelf. Tools like Power BI, Google Data Studio, and Metabase handle common reporting scenarios well. Custom dashboards...
Read guideHow to Plan a Legacy System Replacement
Who This Guide Is For Business leaders and IT managers with an ageing internal system that is no longer fit for purpose, who need a structured approach to replacing it without disrupting the operations that depend on it. Before You Start Confirm that replacement is the right decision. Sometimes modernisation, extension, or even doing nothing is more cost-effective. See What...
Read guideHow to Plan a Data Migration
Who This Guide Is For Business owners and project managers who are moving from one system to another (replacing a legacy tool, consolidating platforms, or migrating to a custom-built system) and need to ensure their data arrives intact. Before You Start Data migration is a project in itself. It is not a side task within a software development project. It...
Read guideHow to Plan a Custom Software Project
Who This Guide Is For Business owners, operations managers, and project sponsors who are considering commissioning custom software and want to approach the process with a clear plan. No technical expertise is needed. This guide focuses on the decisions and preparation that happen before development begins. Before You Start Confirm that custom software is the right approach. Have you evaluated...
Read guideHow to Plan a CRM System
Who This Guide Is For Business owners and sales leaders who are either implementing a CRM for the first time or replacing one that is not working. This guide covers the planning process whether you choose an off-the-shelf platform or a custom-built system. Before You Start Define what “CRM” means for your business. For some businesses, it is a contacts...
Read guideHow to Plan a Client Portal
Who This Guide Is For Business owners and operations managers who want to give their clients a dedicated, self-service space to interact with their company (viewing projects, submitting requests, accessing documents, staying informed) without relying entirely on email and phone calls. Before You Start Understand why you want a portal. “Because competitors have one” is not a strong enough reason....
Read guideAbout Our Guides
The Difference Between Reading About Software and Planning It Properly
There is no shortage of content about software development online. Blog posts about agile methodology, articles about choosing a tech stack, listicles about project management tools. Most of it is written by people selling something, and almost none of it helps you actually plan a project, write a brief, or make a technology decision you will not regret in eighteen months.
These guides are different because they come from the other side of the table. We are the development company that receives briefs, evaluates RFPs, scopes MVPs, and plans migrations. We know what good preparation looks like because we see the difference it makes every week. A client who arrives with a well-structured brief and realistic budget expectations starts their project two to three weeks ahead of one who arrives with a vague idea and a number they found on Google. That gap compounds throughout the engagement. Better preparation leads to fewer revisions, fewer scope changes, and a system that more closely matches what the business actually needs.
Every guide here follows the same approach: define what you are deciding or planning, understand the trade-offs, work through the questions that matter, and arrive at something concrete you can act on. They are written for business owners, operations leads, and project stakeholders: the people making decisions about software, not the people writing it. There is no jargon for its own sake, no theoretical frameworks that fall apart in practice, and no advice that requires you to already know the answer.
The guides below span the full range of decisions that happen before and during a software engagement. You will find planning guides that walk through scoping, budgeting, briefing, and migration preparation. Decision guides that give you frameworks for build versus buy, partner selection, and legacy system assessment. Implementation guides for the practicalities of working with a development team. And operational and technical guides for the ongoing concerns that outlast any single project. Together, they cover the ground between “we need something built” and a clear plan that a development team can work from.
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