Choosing who builds your software is as important as deciding what to build. Proposals can look similar on paper. These questions help reveal how a partner thinks, works and supports you after launch.

Understanding your business

  1. How will you learn our current workflow before proposing a solution?
  2. Have you worked on similar operational problems?
  3. What would you advise us not to build?

How they deliver

  1. How is the work split into phases and releases?
  2. How often will we see working software?
  3. Who will we speak to day to day, and who writes the code?
  4. How do you handle changes in scope?

Quality and ownership

  1. How do you test, and how do we take part in acceptance?
  2. Who owns the code, designs and data?
  3. How is the system documented and handed over?

After launch

  1. What support, monitoring and improvement options do you offer?
  2. How do you plan for integrations and future AI features?

Listen for questions back. A good partner asks more than they answer in the first meeting.

Reading the answers

Look for specific, honest answers over polished promises. A partner who talks about your operations, your users and your risks is far more likely to deliver software that people actually use.