Our Philosophy

We Work Quickly

We cut out all unnecessary overhead—meetings, "agile" sprint ceremonies, and bureaucratic nonsense—so that we can put our heads down and ship software much more quickly than the vast majority of teams. This allows us to deliver working products in six weeks or less of development time.

"What about large projects?"

We have experience working on large, complex systems and can tackle projects of any scale. No matter the scope, we build products one Cycle at a time so we can Build, Measure, and Learn together.

Satisfaction Guaranteed—Or Your Money Back!

We are so confident in our ability to deliver results that we decided to put our money where our mouth is. If we are unable to build what we promised within the agreed upon Cycle, we will do everything we can to make it right. If all else fails, we will give you a full refund for the Cycle minus the very small, nonrefundable Discovery fee.

Click to see the fine print We will work with you to determine the parameters for a reasonable deliverable during the 2 week Discovery Phase prior to development. The money back guarantee only applies if we have not met the requirements agreed upon for the deliverable. Failure to perfectly match designs, changes of heart, and shifts in the market do not qualify for a refund. Invoking the money back guarantee ends our contract and completely severs ties with Semi-Decent – you don't get anything from us and we will never work together again.

Our Process

New projects are broken up into two phases: Discovery and Development. Together, these two phases comprise a Cycle of work, which always ends in a deliverable.

Discovery Phase

Prior to development, we will conduct a Discovery Phase (typically 2 weeks) in which we will work with you to scope the project and determine requirements for the deliverable at the end of the Cycle, as well as assess the state of any existing IP, if applicable. This Discovery Phase comes with a small, nonrefundable fee, part of which is applied toward the Development Phase if you choose to proceed. You may freely walk away if our proposal for the upcoming Cycle is not to your satisfaction.

Development Phase

After the Discovery Phase, we immediately begin engineering work on the project. This phase generally lasts six weeks, though we offer shorter Cycles for smaller scopes and budgets. Prices for our Cycles vary depending on requirements—please contact us for an estimate for your project. We require a 50% deposit before development can begin, with the remaining 50% due upon delivery.

Because of our business model, we will never go over budget and we promise to always deliver a result at the end of the Cycle.

Cycles vs Sprints

"What's the difference between a Cycle and a scrum sprint?"

The world doesn't need more jargon to fix software development, but we are different from most software teams that use agile methodologies. We have centered our business model on delivering projects on time and within budget—or your money back.

We've seen too many teams get bogged down in meetings and agile ceremonies with projects that are late and over budget. In contrast, we start each Cycle with a clear understanding of the deliverable and work backwards to build the essential pieces first. We focus and stay heads down. With our money-back guarantee we promise to deliver on each Cycle.

SprintCycle
2-4 week timebox that might end with working software2-6 week timebox guaranteed to end with working software
No guarantee of delivery or budgetGuaranteed delivery within fixed budget
Sprint planning, retrospectives, and other ceremoniesMinimal meetings, maximum focus on development
Story points and metrics to estimate progressWorking software you can use to see progress directly
Scope creep as "must-have" features get pushed to later sprintsScope locked at start to ensure on-time delivery
Team carries technical debt forward between sprintsEach Cycle delivers complete, production-ready features