The client
A non-tech company with existing agency-built-and-maintained software, spanning a number of bespoke platforms and third-party SaaS tools.
The challenge
The company had outgrown the software and had evolved to use a lot of manual processes alongside the software. Adding new functionality through the agency was prohibitively expensive, but the lack of functionality was limiting growth, so they wanted to investigate options for hiring internal developers. The company had no in-house technical resource and so didn't know what skills to hire for, or what technology they were using.
The role
Reviewed the existing technical estate with a number of goals:
- to identify the technologies in use in order to inform recruitment
- To give high-level feedback on the technical quality of what had been built
- To understand feasibility and effort for extending/modifying the system to support the business' requirements
- To recommendation a backlog that would provide short-term business benefit whilst building toward longer-term goals
- To provide a variety of budgetary options for team structure that could deliver the backlog
The review consisted of two days viewing system use over the shoulder of key members of staff, and several days of technical investigation (done remotely). The deliverable was a 15-page report, and a half-day workshop to review the findings and discuss ways forward.