The job tracker
Who is doing what, by when, and what state it is in. Currently a spreadsheet, a WhatsApp group and one person who remembers everything.
The spreadsheet has outgrown itself.
There is a file everyone is slightly afraid of. It has been copied four times, one column is a formula nobody understands, and the business genuinely depends on it. We build the small piece of software that replaces it.
The usual suspects
The quoting tool
Same numbers, same margins, typed out fresh every time and occasionally wrong. Give it the inputs and let it produce the quote.
The stock or asset list
What you own, where it is, when it was serviced and what it is worth. Usually accurate the day after someone spends an afternoon on it.
The dashboard
The five numbers you actually run the business on, in one place, correct as of this morning rather than a fortnight ago.
The double entry
The same details typed into the inbox, the accounts package and the spreadsheet. That is a connector, and it is usually the cheapest thing we build.
The thing only one person can do
If a task depends on one person being in, it is a risk. Putting it in a tool makes it something anyone can pick up.
How we work
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01
We watch the work
Not a requirements document. We sit with whoever does the job now and follow what actually happens, including the workarounds nobody mentions in meetings.
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02
Smallest useful version
We build the one screen that removes the most annoying part, and put it in front of the people who will use it. Real use beats speculation about what might be needed.
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03
Grow it, or stop
If it is earning its keep we extend it. If it is not, we stop, and you have spent a small amount finding out rather than a large one.
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04
Hand it over
Documented, exportable, and explained to your team. You are not locked in and your data is yours to take.
Questions we get asked
How is this different from just buying software?
Usually it is not better — it is cheaper and faster to buy something off the shelf, and we will tell you when that is the answer. Custom is worth it when the off-the-shelf option costs more per seat than the problem does, or when it forces you to change how the work is done to suit the software.
What sort of things do you build?
Job and booking trackers, quoting and pricing tools, stock and asset lists, internal dashboards, and the small connectors that stop the same information being typed into three places. Usually one screen that replaces a spreadsheet and a lot of remembering.
What happens to our spreadsheet?
We import it. Years of history do not get thrown away — that data is usually the most valuable part, and it is what makes the new tool useful on day one instead of empty.
What if the person who understands it leaves?
That is the risk we are usually being hired to remove. The tool is documented, the data is exportable, and it does not depend on one person keeping it in their head or on their laptop.
Can it work on a phone?
Yes, and for anyone out on jobs it usually must. We build for the phone first when the people using it are not sat at a desk.
What does it cost to run afterwards?
For a tool this size, usually very little — often a few pounds a month in hosting. We will tell you the real figure before you commit, not a headline price with the running costs left out.
What is the file everyone is afraid of?
Describe the process that eats the most time, or send us the spreadsheet. We will tell you honestly whether it is worth building something — or whether an off-the-shelf tool does it for a tenner a month.