Your team says everything is fine, but the business isn't moving. The project is past its deadline and invoices keep growing. Features take months, bugs keep coming back, and you can't tell whether the team is stalling, the product genuinely isn't ready, or someone's just not telling you the truth. You need to find the real reason.
You're growing and you're not sure your tech will keep up. More customers and data will put greater demands on your software. Your team says it'll be fine, but you've got no way to verify that independently.
You're about to make a big investment. Before acquiring a company, investing in one or committing a large budget to a technology decision, you want an independent assessment.
You're thinking about hiring a CTO. Before committing AUD $300k+ to a hire, an assessment can help you work out whether you need a CTO and what the role should cover.
I'll independently review the area you need help with and explain what I find. The exact work and deliverables depend on the assessment you choose.
I look for practical, lower-cost options that fit your business as it is now. Companies often spend on scaling before they need to, and simplifying the approach can avoid that expense.
Most assessments start with a kickoff call where I'll learn about your business, your concerns, and where you want me to focus.
I'll then work independently for 3-4 weeks, interviewing your team, reviewing your codebase and infrastructure, and looking at how work gets done where relevant to the assessment. I'll work around your team's existing commitments.
You'll usually receive a written report with findings and clear next steps. The document is not too technical so it can be shared with all stakeholders.
Once you've read the report, we'll usually have a review call to walk through the findings, answer your questions, and make sure you know what to do next.
These are the assessments I do most often. You can request something different on the application page.
Project Rescue
Your software project has stalled or a previous vendor hasn't delivered.
I'll review what went wrong, what you can salvage and
what your team needs to do next. You'll receive a prioritised recovery plan
to guide implementation.
Learn more »
Production Readiness Review
Your product was built but you're not confident it's ready for real customers.
I'll assess the architecture, deployment pipeline, code quality, security posture, and
operational readiness.
Team & Process
Your team is busy but the business isn't moving forward fast enough.
I'll review your workflow, communication and tooling to understand
how work moves from idea to production. In my experience, the
bottleneck is usually in the process.
Architecture Review
You're growing and you're not sure your technology will keep up.
I'll examine how your product is structured, where the weak points are, and what will
break first under load.
Architecture Roadmap
You're planning a new platform or a rebuild and need to know what to build, or whether to build at all.
A technical roadmap with the recommended direction, priorities, risks
and open questions.
Learn more »
An assessment is probably a good fit if:
This is probably not for you if:
The fee for a Technical Assessment is AUD $9,500 ex GST. This includes the kickoff call, assessment, written report and review call. The scope and deliverables vary by assessment.
If the report doesn't give you a clear path forward, I'll refund your fee.
How long does it take?
Most assessments take 3-4 weeks from kickoff to final report. Larger or
more complex situations may take longer, and the exact process depends
on the assessment.
Will you need to speak to my team?
Where the assessment requires it, I'll speak with 3-5 key people for 30-60 minutes each. I may
ask follow-up questions as I work through the assessment, but your
team can otherwise keep working as normal.
What do I get at the end?
The deliverables depend on the assessment. You'll usually receive a
written report with findings and next steps, plus a review call to
walk through everything.
Do you need access to our codebase?
For Production Readiness and Architecture Reviews, yes. I'll need read
access to your repositories and relevant infrastructure. For Team &
Process Assessments, code access is helpful but not always required.
What if we need help implementing the recommendations?
I don't do implementation work, but I can write job descriptions for
the roles you need. You can also move to
Backchannel for ongoing guidance as your
team works through the recommendations.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes, I'm happy to sign an NDA before we begin if required.
Will my confidential data be shared with AI providers?
When I use AI to process confidential data, I use local models so
that data stays on my own hardware. I comply with standard NDA
conditions and Australian privacy legislation.
Can I combine assessments?
If your situation spans more than one area, we can discuss a broader
engagement. Email me at joe@joeniland.com.
Have another question?
Email me at joe@joeniland.com
and I'll reply ASAP.
If you're not ready for a full assessment, an Advice & Unblocking call is a good way to talk through your situation and figure out whether a deeper engagement makes sense.