Author

Burhan Tahir

Founder & CEO

Burhan has spent ten years on both sides of a software project: writing the code, then running the delivery, then sitting across the table from the person paying for it. He founded Devfinix to close the gap he kept seeing between agencies that could build software and agencies that could market it, and the clients who paid twice because nobody did both.

Most of his week goes on the parts of agency work that decide whether a project succeeds before a line of code is written — scoping, estimating, choosing a contract model, and being straight with a client about what their budget will and will not buy.

On this blog he writes about estimation, delivery and the commercial side of building software: why two quotes for the same brief differ by four times, what a discovery phase is actually for, and when the honest answer is that the work should not go ahead.

Connect on LinkedIn

Writes about

Software Project Delivery
Estimation & Scoping
Client Acquisition
Contract Models
Technical Debt
Legacy Modernisation

Articles by this author

A car engine bay in shadow with a caged service lamp hanging inside, glowing lime

Web Development

The Cost to Maintain a Website Per Year, Over Three Years

A site is not a purchase, it is a subscription to its own continued existence. Here is every line that shows up between launch and year three.

24 September 20269 min readRead article

A surveyor's theodolite on a tripod with a lime rim light, pointed into dark open space

Custom Software

The Discovery Phase in Software Development: What You Get For It

Refusing discovery does not save budget. It moves the cost to the phase of the project where changing your mind is most expensive.

24 September 202611 min readRead article

A brass balance scale in near darkness, one pan holding a solid block, the other a pile of small weights

Custom Software

Fixed Price vs Time and Materials: Choosing Without Getting Burned

A fixed price is not a safer price. It is a price with a risk premium and a change-request tax already inside it. Here is how to pick a model you can live with.

24 September 202612 min readRead article

A heavy old industrial machine in a dark factory with a new lime-lit cable run into its side

Custom Software

Legacy System Modernization Strategies That Keep the Business Running

There are only four real options for an ageing system, and the one most teams reach for is the one that goes wrong most. Here are the criteria for each, including doing nothing.

24 September 202612 min readRead article

A dark globe lit from one side by lime light, continents in silhouette

Custom Software

Offshore Software Development Rates by Country, and What They Hide

The hourly rate is a price, not a cost. Rework, timezone overlap, seniority mix and management burden decide what you actually pay per shipped feature.

24 September 202611 min readRead article

A heavy dark door left slightly ajar, lime light spilling through the gap onto the floor

Web Development

Questions to Ask a Web Developer Before Hiring Them

Eight questions that actually separate one agency from another, written by someone who answers them for a living, with the replies that should end a conversation.

24 September 202611 min readRead article

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Custom Software

Technical Debt in Software Development, Explained for the Person Paying

Some technical debt is a sound business decision and some is negligence. Here is how to tell which one your team is carrying, and what to ask for so it stops compounding quietly.

24 September 202611 min readRead article

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Paid Advertising

How to Track Leads From Google Ads All the Way to Closed-Won

Most accounts stop measuring at 'form submitted', so the bidding learns to buy cheap rubbish. Closing the loop to the CRM changes what the algorithm optimises for.

24 September 202611 min readRead article