Insights

Ten books all software startup founders should read, grouped by the problem each one helps with, with the author, the edition to buy and what has dated in it.

Ten practical tips for being a successful project manager when the project is software: agreeing what done means, handling risk and change, and going live.

Four software support ticket systems worth shortlisting in 2026, what each suits, how we chose them and the checks to make before you commit to one of them.

Five benefits of cloud native architecture explained for the person paying for the software, with what it costs and how an existing system gets there in stages.

The 5 best machine learning frameworks in 2026: scikit-learn, XGBoost, PyTorch, TensorFlow with Keras and ML.NET, with versions and what the choice costs.

Five best practices for Vue development in 2026: the Composition API with script setup, Vite, Pinia, TypeScript and testing, plus what to do about Vue 2.

Five features an enterprise mobile app needs and specifications often miss: company sign-in, a shared API, server-side permissions, offline working and updates.

The five most common software development problems, how each one starts, the early signs to watch for and what the person paying for the work can do about it.

Five questions to answer before developing an app for your business: what it is for, whether it must be an app, what it connects to, its cost and who owns it.

Seven reasons to use Kanban for software work, what makes a board Kanban, when a different method is the better choice and how to try it out for a month.

The advantages of Vue.js in 2026: easy to learn, easy to add to an existing system and well supported. Also its weak points and what to check before you commit.

Agile frameworks name no tester role, but the testing still has to be done. When an agile team needs a dedicated tester, when it can do without and what to ask.

The 8 best JavaScript frameworks in October 2026, with current versions, who maintains each one, what it is for and what the choice means for whoever pays.

Agile vs waterfall for the person paying for the software: how each approach works, what each asks of you, and how to choose between them or combine the two.

Eight tips to reduce your cloud hosting costs on AWS or Azure: see what you pay for, size servers from real use, switch things off and check your licences.

Xamarin support ended on 1 May 2024. What that means for an app you own, how .NET MAUI replaces it, what the move involves and what to check this week.

Angular vs React vs Vue in 2026: current versions, who owns each, how they differ and which suits which kind of business application, with questions to ask.

Software as a service is a sound business model, but a SaaS company's accounts can mislead. The measures that show whether one is healthy, and why buyers care.

AWS vs Azure for a business application built on Microsoft technology: what the two have in common, where each has the edge on licences, and how to choose.

ASP.NET vs PHP compared for the person paying: which ASP you have, current versions and support dates, hosting, licences, hiring and when a move is worth it.

Event-driven architecture lets parts of a system react to events instead of calling each other directly. The benefits, the costs and where it fits a business.

The benefits of building software with Ruby on Rails in 2026, and the trade-offs: speed, cost, hiring, support dates and what to check if you inherit an app.

How to decide between bespoke software and off-the-shelf software: when a packaged product is the right answer, how to test the fit and when to build instead.

The best way to kick off a new software project: what to settle before the first meeting, an agenda for the kickoff meeting and what to expect in month one.

How to build a strong product development team from new hires: who to hire first, how to mix experience and which working rules to settle before the team grows.

The business benefits of machine learning are real but specific. Where it saves time and money, what it needs to work, what it costs and how to test it cheaply.

Choosing the right technology to grow your business: six tests for any language, database or platform, covering support dates, hiring, cost and ownership.

A comparison of machine learning as a service providers: what AWS, Azure and Google Cloud offer in 2026, what each product is now called and how to choose.

Custom software is a good idea for a small business when one process it depends on has no packaged product that fits. How to tell, and how to start small.

Working away from the office is now ordinary, but many business systems have not caught up. The challenges of the mobile workplace today and how to meet them.

Black box testing checks what software does from the outside. White box testing is designed from the code itself. How they differ, with examples and a table.

The difference between microservices and web services: one is a way of structuring an application, the other a way for systems to talk. What each means for you.

The difference between a product manager and a product owner: one is a job, the other a Scrum accountability. What each decides and which your project needs.

A wireframe shows structure, a mock-up shows appearance and a prototype shows behaviour. What each one is for, what you are approving and which you can skip.

Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) is the software delivery part of PMI's Disciplined Agile toolkit. What it covers, who owns it now and when it is worth knowing.

UI design decides what a screen looks like and how its controls behave. UX design decides whether people can get their work done. How to brief and check both.

What moving a .NET Framework application to .NET 10 involves: whether you need to, what has no equivalent, Microsoft's current tools and the order of the work.

The difference between SQL Server and MySQL in 2026: who owns each, licences and editions, support dates, tooling, and what to check if you have inherited one.

The essential tools for remote development teams, grouped by the job each does: code, work tracking, chat, calls, documents and security, checked for 2026.

How to run a fixed-price software project in an agile way: what to settle before work starts, how to use short cycles and how to handle change by swapping.

Fixed price puts the risk of an overrun on the supplier; time and materials puts it on you. Here is how the two compare and when each one is the right fit.

Tips for gathering internal support for a software project: costing the problem, knowing what each decision-maker needs and asking for a small first step.

The pros and cons of a freelancer and a software development company, and the questions to ask each before you hire, with what a good answer sounds like.

The hidden costs of software outsourcing sit outside the supplier's quote: your own time, exclusions, changes, upkeep and leaving. How to estimate each one.

How to hire a CTO for your start-up: deciding whether you need one yet, defining the role, assessing a technical person and agreeing equity and ownership.

What a web application, portal or mobile app costs to build in the UK, what drives the price, worked examples with figures, and how to get a number you can rely on.

How the cloud can improve your business in practice: what changes for staff, for whoever looks after the system and for the budget, and what stays the same.

How to create a digital roadmap in five steps: start from business objectives, list your systems, find the gaps and deadlines, then put the work in order.

How to get user feedback for a business app or customer portal: what to watch before you build, how to test with five users and what to collect after launch.

How to test a web app with Selenium 4: what each part does, a first test in C#, the habits that keep a suite reliable and how Playwright and Cypress compare.

A code review is a second developer reading a change before it goes live. Why code reviews matter, what the research shows and what to ask your supplier.

The importance of prototyping in a software project: what a prototype settles before the build, what it cannot tell you and what to ask a supplier about theirs.

How software can be improved with user-centred design: spot the signs of a poor fit, watch people at work, fix the tasks done most often and test each change.

Location-based applications use where a person, vehicle or item is to record or decide something. How they work, what businesses use them for and what to check.

A persona is a short, evidence-based description of one kind of user. How to write personas for a business system and use them to make real design decisions.

Why managing user expectations decides whether a new business system is adopted, where false expectations come from and how to set them honestly before go-live.

Which agile metrics help when measuring the productivity of a software development team: velocity, cycle time, throughput and the DORA delivery metrics.

The minimal viable product approach tests an idea with the least software you can build. Its advantages, its disadvantages and how to tell if it fits a project.

The most costly factors of custom software development are an unsettled scope, size, unwritten rules, existing data and integrations. How to measure each one.

Fixed-price software development works when the deliverable is clear and both sides agree how change will be handled. Here is what to settle before you sign.

Native app vs web app for business software: how native, cross-platform, progressive web app and plain web application compare, and how to choose between them.

Offshore, nearshore and onshore describe where a software supplier is based. What each means for a UK business, what location changes and how to choose one.

Open source software vs proprietary software, compared for the person paying: licence costs, who fixes faults, support dates, lock-in and licence obligations.

Outsourcing vs outstaffing explained: one buys a result from a supplier, the other adds a supplier's people to your own team. How to tell which one fits you.

An overview of software testing strategies: unit, integration, system and acceptance testing, what each level catches and how to combine them for your system.

The pros and cons of moving your business to the cloud: what gets better, what gets harder, which systems suit a move and what to check before you commit.

A legacy system that still does its job is an asset. Here is how to tell when to keep maintaining it, when to modernise it in stages and when to replace it.

How to integrate quality assurance with agile development: what to check before, during and after each sprint, and how to start on a system that has no tests.

Why the request for proposal (RFP) process fails for bespoke software, what a private company can do in its place, and how to improve an RFP you must run.

How to prototype an app without design skills: choose one task, sketch the screens on paper, make them clickable with simple tools and test with real users.

Selecting the right project stakeholders means naming who pays, who decides, who uses the system and who can stop it. How to pick them and what to ask of each.

Self-hosted or cloud hosted: choosing between keeping your own server, renting one in a data centre and moving to Azure or AWS, with a five-year comparison.

What a software consultancy firm can and cannot do to help launch your product, when it is worth using one, how to choose it and what to keep in your own hands.

Software development in the cloud and its security obstacles: the shared responsibility model, what stays your job, and what the NCSC and the ICO say about it.

Why to choose a software partner that practises continuous delivery, what it means for fixes and support, and the questions that show whether a supplier does.

A spreadsheet is a grid anyone can edit freely; a database holds structured records with rules. Here is how to tell when to move and how to do it.

A startup guide to building agile software: the smallest process that works, how to keep the software cheap to change, and what to agree with an outside team.

Acceptance criteria are the checks that decide when a piece of software is finished. Why they matter, how to write them and how they make a fixed price work.

The top software development methodologies explained for the person paying: Waterfall, Scrum, Kanban, XP, DSDM and the scaled frameworks, and how to choose one.

Tips for optimising your website for mobile users in 2026: one responsive site, Core Web Vitals including INP, thumb-friendly forms and testing on real phones.

The top tools for agile teams in 2026, grouped by the job they do: tracking work, talking, documenting and reviewing. What each is for and how to choose.

Business process automation (BPA) uses software to carry out the routine steps of a process. What it means, which processes suit it and how to start with one.

Step-by-step guide to moving a business database from SQL Server 2016 to 2022 or 2025: upgrade paths, compatibility level, cutover, rollback and common faults.

Using technology to increase sales and build relationships: faster quotes, a customer portal, one record of each customer and reports that say who to call next.

The value of risk management in a software project is fewer expensive surprises. Which risks to look for, how to keep a simple risk register and how to use it.

A legacy system is software still in use that has become hard to change, support or connect. Here is what the term means, with examples and your options.

Bespoke software is written for one organisation's own way of working. What it is, examples, how it compares with off-the-shelf and how to choose a supplier.

What is DevOps? A plain-English explanation of the practices behind it, how to tell whether your software team does it, and what it means for an older system.

Regression testing checks that software which used to work still works after a change. What it covers, how it is done and how to start when there are no tests.

Software maintenance is the work that keeps software working, secure and useful after it goes live. The four types explained, with examples and checks to make.

Technical debt is the future cost of shortcuts and postponed upkeep in software. Here is how to recognise it without reading code and how to pay it down.

Which to develop first, app or website: why a web application that works on phones should usually come first, and how to build it so an app can follow later.

Why do companies outsource software development? The reasons that hold up, the ones that deserve a second look, and when it is better to employ developers.

A service level agreement sets how fast a software supplier responds, in which hours and what happens if it does not. Why to have one and how to judge a draft.

A fault is cheapest to fix at the moment it is made. Why to start testing early in a software project, what the evidence says and how to do it in practice.

System integration connects separate software systems so data entered in one reaches the rest without re-typing. The methods, the key decisions and an example.

Windows Server 2016 support ends on 12 January 2027. Which versions you can upgrade to in one step, in-place or new server, what to check first and the stopgap.