In order for us to reduce your risks and increase your chances of success while delivering a great app, we need to be incredibly structured in the way we work. We don't want to fail and we don't want you to fail. This means we want to be sure we can succeed before taking on your project. This structure and process can often be too burdensome and uneconomic for very small projects. This means we will very rarely take on a project with a budget of less than $25,000.

Equally to ensure the risks are managed fully we need to be fully responsible for the project development. This mean that we do not offer staff augmentation services.

We don't believe we can fully understand what the solution you are seeking actually looks like unless we first to get to know you. Yes, that's know you, not your requirements. We want to understand something of your business, your goals and plans. This ensures that what ever we end up proposing will fit with who you are and where you are trying to get to.

This is why any new relationship with Diligent Robot starts with a customer survey and a 30 minute follow up conversation. During this time the goal is simply for us to both ensure we understand each other's needs and what success looks like from a business point of view. Also let's be perfectly blunt: this is also where we work out if we all think we are the type of people who can work with each other. (The working relationship is usually the biggest risk and greatest asset in any development project)

It seems totally absurd to us that you often go to a developer such as ourselves seeking a solution and what you get offered is a number of hours at a certain rate. You are not asking to buy hours, you are asking for a solution so why are you being offered hours? That's why at Diligent Robot we won't quote you a rate. We will work with you to work out what the solution you require actually looks like and then we will give you a price.

In order to do this we will insist that every new project goes through a road mapping process. The road mapping process will map out exactly what is required and why it is required. It is not always possible to map an entire project as maybe there are just too many unknowns but it is very rare that a project cannot be mapped to the point where it is feasible to make some key decisions about how to go forward.

Sometimes a new client will tell us that they already have the project mapped out and we can skip this phase but we will still insist that if you wish to work with us we need to go through a propper road mapping process. Of course if you do have everything mapped out the road mapping will be incredibly quick and very easy for everyone involved.

At the end of the road mapping process you will have plan. The plan is yours to keep and you can use it however you see fit. It could be used to go ask other developers to bid for the project. Of course we would hope you would also allow us an opportunity to bid as well.

It is the road mapping plan that allows us to give you a fixed price quote for your project. The plan will have teased out the unknowns and identified the risks. This allows us to confidently give you a price rather than an hourly rate.

The cost of road mapping will vary for each project. Once we have gotten to know you a little and understand your needs, we will offer you a fixed price for the road mapping phase. However if you need to know more right now then allowing roughly 10% of the projects budget for road mapping would normally be a good guess.

If you have got his far and still would like to explore working on your project with Diligent Robot then please get contact us.