Questions to ask before someone builds software you’ll depend on for years
Commissioning software you’ll depend on is a long-term decision dressed up as a purchase. The proposal looks like a price and a timeline. What matters more is everything that happens after launch, and a few questions surface that early.
The questions worth asking
Before you choose who builds it, ask:
The answers tell you whether you’re buying a project that ends, or a system someone will keep running.
| If you ask | A worrying answer | A reassuring answer |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs this in three years? | You will | We do |
| What if we stop working with you? | Not really our concern | Your data and access, cleanly handed over |
| What happens when it breaks? | Log a ticket | A named person and a response time |
The last question is the most telling: what have you built that you still run today?
Why these, and not the price
Price and timeline are easy to compare and easy to get wrong. The questions above surface the thing that actually costs you later: whether anyone will still be answering for the system once it’s live. Ask them early, on WhatsApp from any page of the site.
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