Readiness checklist

Custom Software Readiness Checklist

Work through this before your first conversation with a developer. It helps you figure out whether you have a genuine custom software problem and what to have ready when you start talking to someone about it.

Part 1

Signs You've Outgrown Your Current Tools

Check any that apply to your business right now.

Operations
Data and Systems
Growth and Capacity
Risk
0–3 Your current tools may still be serving you. Look for optimization before building.
4–7 You're likely at or approaching the point where custom software makes sense. Worth a conversation.
8+ You have a clear custom software problem. The cost of not solving it is real and growing.
Part 2

Is This Worth Building?

Before moving forward, answer these honestly.

1. Is this process central to how you serve customers or run your operations?

Peripheral, low-frequency problems are better candidates for a quick fix or workaround.

2. How many times per week does this process happen?

3. Can you estimate what the current friction costs per week?

Hours of manual work × your team's average hourly cost

Annualized (× 52)

4. Have you tried existing tools and found them insufficient?

5. Is there a risk dimension to this problem?

Data errors, compliance exposure, key-person dependency, etc.

If this process is central to your operations, happens frequently, has a real cost, and existing tools don't solve it — that's a strong case for custom software.

Part 3

What to Bring to a First Conversation

0 of 6 ready

If you're ready to talk to a developer, these are the things worth having answers to. You don't need technical answers. You need business answers.

What Happens Next

If you scored 4 or above in Part 1 and the questions in Part 2 pointed toward a real problem, the most useful next step is a conversation. Not a sales call. Just a direct conversation about what's going on and whether software is the right fix.

Book a no-obligation discovery call

Bring your score and your answers. We'll talk through what's going on and whether software is the right fix — in plain English, no pitch.

Book a discovery call