Insights
Practical writing from the people doing the work
Notes from live engagements: what worked, what did not, and the judgement calls we had to make. Written by our engineers, not a content team.
All articles
7 articles of 8 total
Why we talk some clients out of AI projects
Roughly a third of the AI projects we are asked to quote should not be AI projects. Being honest about that early is better for everyone, including us.
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Estimates that survive contact with reality
Software estimates have a reputation for being fiction. They are not inherently unreliable. They are just frequently made badly, and then defended rather than revised.
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The case against the big rewrite
Every few years an organisation decides to replace its core system in one go. Most of those programmes fail. The alternative is less dramatic and considerably more likely to work.
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Why penetration test findings do not get fixed
A penetration test that produces a report nobody acts on is an expensive document. The problem is usually how the findings are presented, not how they were found.
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Design for the user with the oldest phone
If your interface works for the person on a five-year-old Android device with a cracked screen and prepaid data, it will work beautifully for everyone else.
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What happens in the first hour of a breach
The decisions made in the first hour largely determine the final cost of an incident. Most organisations make them for the first time during an actual incident.
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How to buy software you will not regret in three years
Most technology procurement decisions are made on the strength of a demonstration. Demonstrations are designed to hide exactly the things that will matter later.
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