Comparing Developers

Businesses where the software is the product

quick2coach is an example of a company where the product is the software. In other words, quick2coach intends to make money by selling the use of the software that we created for them. Pam, from quick2coach, contacted PNWSoft because she was frustrated that her current developer wasn't able to make the UI like she wanted it. In our initial one or two hour meeting I determined that the developer that she was using was not very experienced. Given the type of product Pam wanted to create, it was obvious to me that the UI had to be very easy and enjoyable to use. This application needed an AJAX UI (see  Wikipedia), but the developer had created a Web 1.0 type of UI.

In addition the developer had created features like login/registration and purchase, that were inappropriate at this time. PNWSoft created a new version of the product, but we did not add the features that let the user login and save their results. This meant that Pam did not have a complete solution that she could go to market with, but she did have the essential UI that she intended to sell. She and her partners used that version to demo to potential customers to determine if the idea had merit. After she proved to herself that it was worth going farther, we added the login and other features necessary to make her product.

This example shows three things. First, the inexperienced developer created a UI that they were capable of creating, instead of a UI that the business demanded.

Second, the developer didn't recognize that the features that were not related to the Golden Nugget should not be developed until after the Golden Nugget was working and proven to be sellable. Third, Pam didn't recognize what should be done first and what should be implemented later. The end result is that Pam wasted a bunch of money on the wrong developer.

Most software developers do what they are told, but most new software products are created by people that have not created a lot of different businesses and therefore don't know the best path to develop the software and the business. Most need the type of business consulting that PNWSoft provides as a by product of developing the software.

Businesses where the software is not the product

Freightclick is an example of a business where the software is a cost saving tool and a customer convenience feature, not the product. In this example the software is used to buy the real product, which is shipping. Justin had been paying some offshore developers to build a complete solution that both the end users and the internal staff would use to run the business. We reviewed the software and determined that the developer knew how to write software. However, they didn't understand that where the software is going to replace existing processes it must be developed in different phases. Each phase will be deployed and replace a chunk of the existing business processes so that there will be many small changes instead of one big change. The previous developer had created a lot of software and most of it worked, but unfortunately there were bugs in every module. That meant that no module could be deployed separately to phase out different parts of the current business processes. Justin put a lot of money into this developer until he recognized this lesson. By the time he contacted PNWSoft he knew he wanted to do just a small phase instead of the whole thing. Had he contacted PNWSoft at the start, he wouldn't have had to learn that lesson the expensive way.

The developer was probably charging less per hour than PNWSoft. We suspect this because they only provided offshore developers. They didn't have anyone like John Taves and Mike Hayer who have not only the software development skills but more importantly the business experience that could guide Justin to the right plan. In the long run PNWSoft was a bargain.

Conclusion

When searching for a software developer, you should make sure that the developer has significant business experience. That knowledge should be apparent in your initial interview where you describe what you want to accomplish. The developer should ask a lot of questions and challenge your views on how your business should be developed. If they don't, they most likely don't know how to organize the development so that it has frequent releases and the features are implemented in an order that maximizes your return on investment and minimizes your risk.