Technology consulting & software architecture
ByteTalk helps business owners and teams make decisions about software architecture, technology choices, and delivery. We can review an existing system, help shape a new product, or work through a decision with your team.
Discuss your project
The work
You may need a second opinion before a commitment, a plan for an existing product, or help during delivery. We define the question and the useful outcome before agreeing on the work.
Before you commit to a direction.
The question
What are we trying to decide?
Review the architecture, integrations, and constraints you have today. We connect technical concerns to their effect on the product, the people maintaining it, and the business paying for it.
The options
What can change, and what can stay?
Set priorities and work through dependencies before committing to a build. Depending on the scope, the work may include options, tradeoffs, open questions, and a suggested sequence of changes.
The next steps
What needs to happen first?
Work through architecture and implementation decisions alongside your team. We can help assess a new requirement, review an approach, or resolve a question that is holding a project up.
An example of how we frame the work. We agree on the deliverable with you.
Before the build
A technology recommendation should fit the business and the people who will use it. We bring experience building marketplace and e-commerce platforms and leading engineering teams to that discussion.
Compare the job you need done with what existing products support. Consider integration, ongoing cost, control over the experience, and the work your team would inherit. We can help you assess options before choosing custom development.
Identify the problems you need to solve and the parts that still serve the business. A plan may involve a focused change, a staged migration, or a new build. We weigh the transition work and operational risk alongside the end result.
Consider your team's skills, available time, deployment process, and support responsibilities. We assess the day-to-day work a choice creates as well as the features it offers.
Our approach
You work with ByteTalk’s founder, Alan Shiflett. We agree on the scope, fee, and timeline before work begins.
Meet AlanWe discuss what you need to decide, the people involved, and the constraints. We agree on which parts of the product or plan need review and what material will help.
We assess the relevant systems or proposed approaches and work through the tradeoffs with you. We separate what we can establish from questions that need further investigation or a prototype.
We explain the recommendation and its assumptions, identify dependencies, and discuss a practical order of work. You can use that direction with your team or discuss further development with us.
A few useful details
Yes. We can agree on a consultation, assessment, or planning engagement around a specific decision. Development can be a separate conversation if you need it.
Yes. We can review a proposal, discuss an architecture decision, or provide guidance during delivery. We agree on responsibilities with you and the team so the work fits the project.
No. Start with the effect you see: a project that is hard to change, a process that takes too much work, or uncertainty about a proposed build. We can help define the questions worth investigating.
Bring the decision you need to make, the constraints you know, and a description of the current product or plan. We will agree on any further documentation or access the assessment needs. A short explanation is enough for the first conversation.
Tell us what you are trying to achieve, what you have today, and where you need a second opinion.