How to choose a software development company

Choosing a development partner is hard because the thing you are buying is invisible until it is late to change your mind. A few pointed questions early tell you more than any portfolio.

Questions worth asking

1. 01Who will actually write the code, and will I speak to them? A good answer names people and makes them reachable.
2. 02What happens when the requirement changes mid-project? Look for a defined change process, not reassurance that it will be fine.
3. 03Who owns the code and the intellectual property? This should be in writing before anything starts.
4. 04How will I see progress? Working software every cycle is the right answer. Status reports are not.
5. 05What does the handover include? Repository access, deployment documentation and credentials should be yours from the beginning.
6. 06What happens after launch? Support and maintenance terms should be agreed up front, not improvised later.

Answers that should worry you

• A firm fixed price from a two-line brief. Either the estimate is padded heavily or it is about to change.
• No questions about your business, only about your feature list.
• Code held in the supplier's own accounts with no route to transfer it.
• Agreement with every request. A partner who never pushes back is not thinking.
• Technology chosen before the problem is understood.

Start small, deliberately

The most reliable filter is a small paid piece of work — a discovery phase, a prototype, a single integration. You learn how they communicate, estimate and handle the first surprise, at a fraction of the cost of learning it six months in.

Size matters less than fit

A large firm brings process and redundancy, and your project may not get its strongest people. A small team gives you their best engineers and direct access, with less capacity for a sudden scale-up. Neither is better in general — decide which risk you would rather carry.