When we work together, we are partners starting out on a journey towards custom software. We’re a skilled development team to whom you can outsource with confidence.
We work using Agile Scrum.
This simply means we plan, execute and complete small, bitesize tasks every two weeks (a “Sprint”). These small tasks build towards the features and goals for your project.
For you, this means:
- Regular opportunities to see progress and give feedback
- It’s easier to accommodate new ideas and changes in scope
- You see a fast return on investment, as each Sprint brings new features and improvements that you can use right away
The theory behind it.
This isn’t just a fancy-sounding idea we’ve come up with ourselves. Agile is the most popular method of software development, used across the world. Agile’s iterative and incremental methods contrast with the heavyweight, upfront planning methods of Waterfall.
Agile's core principles are:
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
You will see these key concepts in everything that we do at Switchplane, especially how we work with you.
Our clients love it.
Working ‘Agile’ has given our clients excellent results. We’ve worked in this way since 2017 - we love it and our clients love it.
Watch our clients James and Miranda talking about their experiences with the process:
It's all about giving you a quick return on investment.
We set the next priorities with you every two weeks when we meet. You’ll see and test the latest work done. Then it’s in your hands, ready to use.
Each time we meet, we expect to show you features and improvements that will:
- Free up time for you or your staff
- Help you to sell more effectively
- Improve the customer service you offer
- Improve the experience for your employees, or
- Provide a social impact of some kind
This will depend upon the type of software we’re working on for you and your priorities.
If your priorities change, the process allows for this. We simply discuss it in our next meeting and get the features into production in a matter of days.
You decide your budget.
You set a monthly budget that you’re comfortable with, typically starting around £5k+VAT.
We use around 15% of your budget for technical planning, quality control, maintenance, and support. The rest goes on making progress towards your goals.
It’s as simple as that.
It’s a trust thing.
When hiring a member of staff, you’re paying them with the expectation that good things will come from it. It’s exactly the same with Switchplane. You’re buying into a process that delivers you custom software as an output.
But we know we need to gain your trust.
At the start of our partnership, we have a ‘Discovery’ phase to mitigate some of the risk involved.
- We have the opportunity to get to know one another and each other’s businesses really well
- You get to experience our process
- Together we define what will be your ‘minimum viable product’ (MVP), i.e. a feature focusing on one of your biggest pain points to give you immediate ROI
The Discovery phase takes place over the first month and is set at half of your ‘regular’ budget. This allows us to take a measured, thoughtful approach. We don’t go in at top speed and rush into something which isn’t right for your project.
The cycle repeats.
Once development work is underway, the Agile process takes over. Two-week cycles of planning, development, meeting, testing, feedback and delivery. Always focusing on the next highest priorities.