Checklist: Preparing for Custom Software

01 — Checklist

Clarify before the first quote

• What should improve? In one sentence, no jargon.
• How will you know? One number that should change.
• Who decides? One person, not a committee.
• What budget is available? A range is enough — it makes quotes comparable instead of arbitrary.
• By when? And what the deadline depends on.
• Which systems are involved? And who has access to them.
• What do you already have? Content, data, preliminary work — this reduces the cost.

02 — Participation

What we need from you

• A contact person who can make decisions — not just forward them.
• Access to the affected systems, in time and not on launch day.
• Real examples from daily business — the messier, the more useful for testing.
• Two to four hours for coordination, distributed over the project duration.
• An answer to the question of what success means. Without it, nothing can be assessed afterward.

03 — Questions

Questions you should ask

• What happens if the project becomes more expensive than estimated — who bears that?
• Who owns data, access, and, if developed, the source code?
• What does operation cost in the second and third year?
• What does the documentation we receive at the end look like?
• How would you measure whether the project was successful?
• Is there a case in which you would advise us against this?