How to brief a custom app: what to have ready

You don’t need a technical spec

People often put off talking to a software developer because they think they need to arrive with requirements, diagrams and a list of features. You don’t. What helps is a clear picture of what’s going wrong today. Everything else can be worked out together.

Here’s what’s worth writing down before the first conversation. An hour of thinking now saves a lot of back and forth later.

1. The problem, in a sentence

Not “we need a CRM”. More like “enquiries get lost between three people” or “it takes two days to put a quote together”. The problem is what the software has to fix, and sometimes the answer turns out smaller than you expected.

2. Who uses it, and what each person needs

List the people who’ll touch it: you, your team, clients, suppliers. For each one, note what they do and what they should be allowed to see. A client who only sees their own orders is a very different build from a system everyone logs into.

3. Where the information lives now

Spreadsheets, an old system, email folders, a notebook. If you can, send us an example, with private details removed. The shape of your existing data tells us a lot about the job.

4. What it needs to connect to

Your website, your stock, your accounts, a booking tool. The more your systems talk to each other, the less anyone has to type the same thing twice. Connecting systems is a normal part of what we build, so mention anything you rely on.

5. What you pay for software today

This is the one people leave out, and it’s the most useful for deciding whether to build at all. Write down every subscription involved, how many users pay for it, and the cost per year. Then add the time lost to workarounds. We’ll compare that with the cost of a custom app. Where possible, we show you how it works out against what you use today, especially subscription-based software, and how much you could save over time.

6. What “done” looks like

If it worked perfectly in six months, what would be different? Fewer hours chasing people, quotes out the same day, one screen with this week’s figures. A real target stops the project drifting.

Start small

You don’t have to replace everything at once. Some of the best results come from a small tool that removes one repeated job for a small team. Pick the process that hurts most and start there. If it’s working, you can build on it.

Questions worth asking any developer

• Who will look after it once it’s live, and what does that cost?
• What happens if we want to change something in a year?
• Is there a ready-made option we should try first? (A good answer is an honest one, even if it means no sale.)
• How will I see progress before it’s finished?

What we build

Custom CRMs, dashboards, secure client portals, APIs and integrations, and internal tools for smaller teams. We also have in-house frameworks, called Base356, that we tailor to your operation so you can launch in weeks. Have a look at what we build and at business automation for examples, or read our guide on when a spreadsheet has had its day. And if it isn’t worth building, we’ll tell you.