Free, and free of charge

Is your software project in trouble?

Twelve questions about the state of your project. You get a straight answer at the end, along with a list of what to do about it, most important first.

You do not need to be technical to answer any of them, and there is nothing here you have to buy.

Your result appears on screen. No email address required to see it.

Control and ownership

Is your domain name registered in your name or your company name?
Not your developer, not their agency. The name on the registrar account.
Can you log in to your hosting yourself, without asking anyone?
The account the software actually runs on, and the account that pays for it.
Do you have a copy of the source code that you control?
The code itself, in a repository or an archive you can reach without permission.

What happens if someone leaves

How many people understand how your software works?
Is there any written specification or documentation?

Whether it is moving

When did you last receive a working update you could actually use?
How is the project going against its original timeline?
How easy is it to get a straight answer on progress?

Money

How is the work priced?
Where are you against the original budget?

The state of the software

Has anyone ever checked the software for security problems?
Customer data, passwords, payment details: anything that would matter if it leaked.
Is the software live and being used by real people?
0 of 12 answered

What this is, and what it is not

This is a starting point for a conversation, not a survey of your code. It is built from what usually goes wrong on software projects, weighted by how expensive each thing is to unpick later. Ownership questions carry the most weight, because whether you control your own domain, hosting and code is both the biggest predictor of a painful takeover and the cheapest thing on the list to put right.

Most of what it recommends costs nothing and does not involve changing developer. If your answers show the project is fine, it says so.

If it turns out you do want someone to look properly, that is what the rescue page is about, and how to rescue a failed software project covers the whole process in detail.

Software Delivered is a trading name of Voittaa Ltd. Back to the site