Making sense of software for your work.

Practical guides for thinking through an idea, choosing the right tools and understanding what it takes to make software useful.

Should you buy existing software or build a custom tool?

How to give existing software a fair trial, spot when a custom tool is worth it and compare the full commitment, not just the first price.

One more is published for teams preparing a tender. The others are topics I plan to write about next.

For lead suppliers: the work package, evidence, procurement rules, ownership, payment and support to settle before you submit.

Planned. How people will use it, where it needs to work and what each option costs to build and maintain.

Planned. Hosting, updates, backups, support and who is responsible for each.

Planned. Where it speeds things up, and why testing, security and upkeep still matter.

You don’t need to know the technical details. Tell me what you have in mind and what you’d like it to do.