Buying software development is hard precisely because you cannot evaluate the product before you buy it. These questions tell you more than any portfolio will.

The seven questions

• Who will actually write the code — the people I am talking to, or a team I will never meet?
• How many hours a day do you work at the same time as my team?
• How often will I see working software rather than slides?
• Where is the data hosted, and whose name is on the accounts?
• Which legal framework governs the contract, and how does invoicing work?
• What documentation do I keep at the end?
• If I want to change supplier in a year, what do I take with me?

Why the last one matters most

If the answer to the last question is vague, you have a problem. Software delivered well is software you can walk away from: code in your repository, infrastructure in your accounts, decisions written down. A partner confident of keeping you does not need to lock you in.

It is how we work — and it is also why clients are still with us years after the first project.