The story behind EchoDek’s 7 day software

The trouble with getting a software project built is that they’re always late and they always go over budget.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could be sure that what you were getting was what you asked for and it was going to be delivered on time?

After 20 years working as a commercial software developer, I hit a rough point with an existing client whose project I had been working on for three years. We both knew why the system wasn’t working as it should (3rd parties involved with blame all round) and I wanted them to rewrite the whole thing; they were scared about the cost and potential for overruns, given the amount that they had already sunk into the project.

So I said “let me take Feature X and I’ll rebuild it in a week”. They agreed - because a week’s worth of work is practically no risk for them. I stripped the feature down to its pure essentials and by the next Monday they had something they could take to their customers and start selling. They immediately bought a second week to add some niceties and finishing touches to the administration side of things.

Since then I’ve followed the same pattern on other work that’s come my way - find out which part of the project will actually make money and concentrate on specifying, building and shipping that; no frills, no niceties, just the essential feature to get the job done.

It’s better for me and the developers, as we get to work on well-specified projects with a fixed scope but more importantly it’s low risk for the customer; they know what they are getting, what it’s going to cost and when it’s going to be delivered.

And so I thought I’d launch it as a standalone service.

Presenting 7-day Software from EchoDek https://clientrobot.com/. On-spec, on-budget and on-time.


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Rahoul Baruah

Rahoul Baruah

Rubyist since 1.8.6. I like hair, dogs and Kim/Charli/Poppy. Also CTO at Collabor8Online.
Leeds, England