About
A software company that builds and advises
ikiz.dev is a mobile app development and technology consulting company. We build applications for Apple platforms and Android, develop custom software for organisations, and advise on software architecture, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure.
The two halves of the business depend on each other. Building and publishing our own applications keeps the consulting practical: the recommendations we make are ones we have had to live with in production. Consulting, in turn, exposes us to the constraints that organisations actually work under, which shapes how we build.
Approach
How we think about the work
Understand the problem before proposing a system
Most expensive software mistakes are made before any code is written, when the wrong problem is specified or the constraints are not understood. We spend the first part of every engagement on the problem, the people affected by it and the limits we have to work within. The proposal follows from that, not the other way round.
Prefer the simplest design that will hold
Complexity has a running cost that is paid every day a system is in service. We choose boring, well-understood technology where it does the job and reserve novelty for the places where it buys something concrete.
Make security part of the design
Security review is cheapest at the architecture stage and most expensive after an incident. Threat modelling, access control and data handling are discussed at the start of a project, and we review our own work against the same standards we apply when auditing others.
Leave things in a state someone else can maintain
Code, infrastructure and documents are written for the next engineer, who may not be us. Decisions are recorded with their reasons so that they can be revisited when the circumstances change.
Our own products
Applications on the App Store
ikiz.dev publishes 5 applications on the App Store for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Each one is a focused tool for a specific need, from organising recipes to measuring Wi-Fi coverage. Running them means handling platform updates, store review and user feedback continuously, which is the same work we take on for client applications.
Working with us
Forms of engagement
- Project
- A defined piece of work with a written scope, a fixed or estimated price and agreed milestones. Typical for a new application, a migration or an integration.
- Review
- A time-boxed assessment of an existing system, codebase or cloud environment, ending in a written report and a prioritised list of recommendations.
- Advisory
- Ongoing access to senior engineering judgement for leadership teams and in-house developers, on a retained basis.
- Maintenance
- Continued support for applications we have built, covering operating system updates, dependency changes, store compliance and small improvements.
- Language
- Engagements are conducted in English. Write to [email protected] to start.
Contact
Tell us about your project
Write to us with a short description of the project or the problem. We will come back with questions and, where it makes sense, a proposal.