Process
How I build
Every project follows the same disciplined path — from a written specification to a system you own and I keep running. Here's how the work actually happens.
01 / The path
From a written specification to a system you own
Discover
I start with the business, not the code — what's run by hand today, what's rented from a platform, and the single outcome that would matter most. The goal of this phase is a problem worth solving, stated plainly.
Specify
Before any code, I write the specification: the data model, the interfaces, the integration points, and the acceptance criteria that define done. We agree on it together. A clear spec is what keeps a build on-scope and a handover honest.
Architect
I design the system and choose the stack for the actual scope — lightweight where it can be, and properly hardened where money, authentication, and customer data are involved. Decisions that shape the system are written down, not left implicit.
Build
Implementation runs against the spec in small, reviewable increments. Anything with real behavior gets a test written first, so the intended behavior is pinned down before the code that satisfies it.
Verify
Every change is verified against real command output — type checks, linting, the test suite, a production build, and security scanning — with additional end-to-end, data-isolation, and payment-integrity checks when it touches money, authentication, customer data, or the schema. A fresh, independent review precedes every merge.
Ship & maintain
The system goes live, monitored from day one. From there it's yours — with an optional retainer to run it, watch it, and evolve it as the business changes.
02 / The stack
What I build on
Core
Mobile
Data
Payments & email
Reliability
Ship
A typed, modern stack chosen for reliability and ownership — no proprietary lock-in, and the same foundations behind the products in my work.
03 / Assurance
Reliability is enforced, not asserted
Whether a build is finished is not a judgment call. Every change must clear a blocking gate — run locally on real command output, not a status report — before it merges. The standard is fixed; what passes it is measured, not asserted.
Every change
Baseline
Payments · authentication · customer data · schema
When the stakes rise
Blocked from release until every check passes.
What “production-grade” means here is a written checklist aligned with established security standards — OWASP ASVS and the NIST Secure Software Development Framework — so the bar is explicit and verifiable rather than rhetorical.
Specification-first
Contracts and acceptance criteria are written and agreed before implementation. The decisions that shape the system are recorded, so the reasoning survives the handover.
Tested where it counts
Behavioral changes are written test-first. A gate enforces the definition of done on every change — and escalates to end-to-end, isolation, and payment-integrity checks where money, authentication, or customer data are involved — judged on the real exit code, not a summary.
Reviewed before merge
No change reaches the main line on its author's word alone. A fresh, independent pass reviews it first.
Watched in production
Errors and regressions surface through monitoring from the first deploy, so problems are found before customers report them.
The result is predictable, auditable delivery: what I hand over is traceable and maintainable, not a black box.
See this applied to your business
Tell me what you're running by hand, or the platform you'd rather own. I'll walk you through how I'd build and verify it.
Get in touch