Notes worth keeping.
These are short pieces we find ourselves explaining often. They are free to use, carry no sign-up, and are written to be useful whether or not you ever work with us.
- Briefing
Writing a brief that gets honest estimates
Describe the problem rather than the solution, list who will use the product, mark what is fixed (deadline, budget ceiling, integrations) and what is open. Include examples you like and, just as usefully, ones you dislike. A two-page brief with clear priorities beats a forty-page specification.
- Briefing
Questions to ask any software supplier
Who will actually do the work? Who owns the code, accounts and domains? How are changes to scope handled and priced? What happens if the relationship ends? Ask to see an example of their written documentation, not just their portfolio.
- Mobile
Native versus cross-platform in plain terms
Native means separate code for iOS and Android, with the closest platform fit. Cross-platform means mostly shared code, usually lower cost, with occasional extra work for device-specific features. The choice should follow your features, team and maintenance plans.
- Mobile
Why apps need updating every year
Apple and Google raise their minimum requirements annually. Apps that are not rebuilt against newer platform versions can be hidden from new users or removed. Budget for at least one maintenance release a year even if nothing else changes.
- Publishing
Preparing for App Store review
Provide a working demo account for reviewers, make sure every feature mentioned in the listing is reachable, and ensure the privacy label matches every library in the app. Most rejections we see stem from missing reviewer access or mismatched declarations.
- Publishing
Store ownership: keep it in your name
Developer accounts should belong to your organisation, with your supplier added as a team member. That way, if you change suppliers, your app — and its reviews and history — stay with you.
- Web
An accessibility check you can do in ten minutes
Unplug the mouse and use only the keyboard: can you reach and operate everything, and can you always see where focus is? Zoom the browser to 200%: does anything overlap or disappear? Read link text out of context: does it still make sense?
- Web
What to keep after a website launch
Domain registrar login, DNS records, hosting access, the code repository, any content management logins, the analytics decision you made (if any), and a written note of who renews what and when.
- Support
Backups: the restore is the test
A backup only counts if you have restored from it. Agree how often backups run, where they are stored, how long they are kept, and when the last successful restore test was performed.
- Support
Writing a useful bug report
Steps to reproduce, expected result, actual result, device and version, time it happened. Five lines like these often save a day of investigation.