The build session
A working first version of your idea, built in your office, with you. Usually within the hour.
Talking about what software could do is slow, and it hides the real questions until much later. Building it in front of you brings them out straight away.
Book a build sessionBook a free conversation
How it works
- Pick one thing. A form, a spreadsheet, a process someone does by hand every week, or an idea you've been meaning to try. One is enough.
- I come to you. We sit down together, with the people who do the work if possible.
- I build while we talk. You describe how it works today; I build a first version as you watch.
- You try it. It works, on your own example, the same day.
- We decide what's next. Keep it, improve it, or move on to the next idea, with a clear view of cost before anything more is built.
Why build first?
Because the questions that matter only come up when people can see something working.
What about the customers who don't fit the form? Who signs this off? Where does the data go after this? In a meeting, these surface weeks later. In a build session, they surface in minutes, and each answer goes straight into what we're building.
It also takes the guesswork out of the decision. You're not choosing on the strength of a presentation. You've seen it work.
Good first candidates
- A paper or PDF form that someone retypes into another system
- A spreadsheet that has grown into something the business depends on
- An approval or sign-off that lives in email
- A repeated report that someone builds by hand every week or month
- An idea for a customer-facing tool you've wanted to test
What it isn't
A build session produces a first version: real and working, but not the finished system. The point is to prove the idea and learn fast. Turning it into something your whole business relies on comes next, in steps, each earning its place.
What to bring
- One real example: a filled-in form, a copy of the spreadsheet, a description of the process
- The person who does the work, if you can. They know where the awkward cases are
- Someone who can decide what happens next
Please don't share passwords or personal data during the session. We'll work with sample data and agree a secure way to handle anything live later.
Cost
It depends on the size of the job and what it's worth to you. We'll agree it before the session, and before any further work.