How we work

A project from
discovery to launch.

Most software projects go wrong the same way: vague scope, late visibility, a surprise at the end when the budget's gone. We've seen it from the outside — clients who came to us after a project that ran twice as long and cost twice as much as quoted. Our process is built to make that impossible.

Five phases. Clear handoffs. Fixed scope. You see progress every week. No hidden hours, no "trust us, we're working on it."

01

Discovery

What clients describe as the problem and what's actually slowing the business down are usually different things. We start with a paid workshop to find out which is which. You bring your team, we bring observation and questions. We document your current workflow, pain points, and what success looks like. By the end, you have a written spec that locks scope and sets expectations.

Typical duration

1–3 weeks

What you receive

  • Workshop notes
  • Scope document
  • Technical spec
  • Fixed price estimate

Who's involved

  • You + your team
  • Our project director
  • Senior technical lead

02

Architecture

Before we write code, we design the system. Stack decisions, infrastructure approach, API contracts, testing strategy. You review, we iterate. No surprises when builds start. Scope is locked.

Typical duration

1 week

What you receive

  • System design document
  • Technology decisions + rationale
  • Timeline + milestones
  • Risk review

Who's involved

  • Project director
  • Senior engineer
  • You (as needed)

03

Build

We build in vertical slices. First slice is real and deployed by week 2–3. Real users interact with it. You give feedback. We iterate. No "surprise launch" — you see progress every week via shared staging links and regular standups.

Typical duration

4–16 weeks

What you receive

  • Working software every 1–2 weeks
  • Automated test coverage
  • Documentation
  • Video walkthroughs

Who's involved

  • Your team (for feedback)
  • Our dev team + QA + design
  • Regular check-ins

04

Ship

Production cutover, monitoring setup, team training. We stay available for the first week after launch for any edge cases. We hand you runbooks and documentation so your team can operate it independently.

Typical duration

1–2 weeks

What you receive

  • Production deployment
  • Monitoring + alerts
  • Team training
  • Runbooks + docs

Who's involved

  • Your operations team
  • Our DevOps engineer
  • Our support engineer

05

Maintain

Post-launch, you choose your model: a retainer for peace of mind, or as-needed support. We do monthly check-ins, performance reviews, and help you plan the next phase. No surprises, no "we found a major bug we've been hiding."

Typical duration

Ongoing

What you receive

  • Monthly check-ins
  • Performance reports
  • Bug fixes + enhancements
  • Roadmap planning

Who's involved

  • Your team
  • Our on-call engineer
  • Project director (quarterly)

Boundaries

What we don't do.

Being clear about scope keeps projects on track. Here's what falls outside our engagement model.

  • Managed marketing campaigns or ongoing SEO retainers. We build the tools; your team (or an agency) runs the campaigns.

  • Design-only projects. We believe design and engineering inform each other. We do both or neither.

  • Hosting/maintenance of legacy sites without modernization. If your site is 10+ years old, we recommend rebuilding.

  • Hourly staff augmentation. We price by scope and deliver by milestone, not by hours billed.

  • 24/7 SLA guarantees. We commit to production monitoring and rapid response, not enterprise SLAs.

Ready to talk about your project?

The first step is a discovery call. No commitment, no sales pitch. We'll understand what you're building and whether we're a fit.

Start the conversation → Can AI help? (916) 234-0040

Can AI help?

What's the task your team does manually every day?

Tell us in plain words. We'll ask a couple of questions, then tell you honestly whether it's worth automating — no sales pitch.