What happens in a discovery call, and what you get afterwards

Every project we take on starts with a free 30-minute call. It is not a sales pitch, and you do not need a specification. The purpose is for us to understand the problem well enough to tell you honestly whether we are the right team, and if so, to write a proposal you can hold us to.

What we ask

• What happens today, and where it breaks: the spreadsheet that gets emailed around, the report that takes two days, the question nobody can answer quickly.
• Who uses it: staff, customers, the public, a regulator. How many, on what devices, with what level of technical comfort.
• What data exists, where it lives, and who owns it. Integrations with existing systems are usually the hardest part of any project, so we ask early.
• Constraints: budget range, deadline, accessibility requirements, data residency, security review, procurement rules.
• What success looks like in six months. A number is best: hours saved per week, orders per day, time to answer a question.

What you get afterwards

Within a few business days you receive a written proposal with a recommended approach (including whether an off-the-shelf tool would serve you better than custom work), the scope in plain language, a phased timeline with review points, a price with the hours and rates behind it, and the assumptions the price depends on. For larger projects we propose a short paid discovery phase first, so the full proposal is based on evidence rather than guesses.

How to prepare

1. Bring one or two real examples of the problem (a screenshot, a spreadsheet, a complaint).
2. Know who would need to approve the project and when a decision has to be made.
3. If there is an existing system, have someone on the call who knows how it is set up.
4. Say the budget range if you have one. It changes what we recommend, not how hard we try.

If we are not the right fit, we will say so and, where we can, point you to someone who is. Book a call through the contact page; we reply within one business day.