“Next year’s annual customer event will be held in Austin. Please start planning immediately. Be prepared to connect in a few months to present the details of your plan.” The marching orders from your boss are clear. An event in Austin. Next year. As the Head of Events at your organization, you waste no time … diving headfirst into the plans. Fast forward to “a few months later,” and you present your plan to the C-suite. Someone raises their hand when the first slide appears,

Updating legacy systems or creating new software applications, whether for internal or customer use, often demands substantial resources. While larger organizations possess in-house IT departments capable of handling software needs, many smaller businesses lack such capabilities. Simply hiring IT professionals with the necessary skills can exceed the budgets of smaller- to mid-sized companies. The primary reason most businesses opt to outsource their software development is r

Hubris is a death sentence for many startups. I’ve heard many entrepreneurs, including myself, quote Henry Ford’s famous words: “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said, ‘faster horses.'” Ford implied that entrepreneurs often have better insights than their customers. “If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said, ‘faster horses’,” -Henry Ford The history of innovation reveals only a few visionaries who accurately predicted cu

COVID-19 has caused unprecedented disruptions to the global economy, but the outsourcing business has been particularly hard hit. As soon as clients felt economic instability and an uncertain future, R&D budgets were slashed, transactions were delayed, projects were cut, and prospective clients disappeared. Consequently, many outsourcers had to downsize or even go out of business. However, organizations adapted quickly and took advantage of the crisis. CodeStringers is one

Companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 Regionals: California list had an average growth rate of 535 percent. Santa Cruz, California, March 16, 2021 – CodeStringers, a provider of software “upsourcing” services with a commitment to delivering innovation, craftsmanship and integrity in every product we build, today announced that it placed number 12 on the 2021 Inc. 5000 Regionals series list of fastest growing private companies. The California list is the most prestigious ranking of

Perhaps you’ve fallen into the same trap I have. You have an idea for a new digital product, and you think you can build it internally. Maybe you have a well-known offline brand, but you don’t yet have a successful mobile app. And perhaps you have a guy in IT who is a talented Java developer. Why not let him take a crack at it (insourcing)? You may want to read Which Is Better for Software Development? Outsourcing or In-House? This is a mighty tempting option, particularly

When a prospective client contacts outsourcing partners for software development, they have a crucial question. Beyond the usual "get to know you" questions, this question stands out. “How long will it take to build my software and how much money will it cost?” Outsourcing engagements often turn into nightmares, and this is where it begins. Buyers often realize it months after signing contracts. To explain this, I’ll use an analogy that’s near and dear to my heart, having jus

We have seen two fundamentally different philosophies on how companies interact with their software during years of working with our clients: the first we call project focus, and the second we call product focus. Choosing a philosophy for your business will affect your product, company, culture, and customer experience. Project Focus Project Focus is a methodology that establishes specific, predefined goals along with a clear deadline and budget. In this approach, a software