SoftWeb Development Limited

04/05/2026

The dirty secret of the no-code revolution.

WordPress was sold on the promise that you wouldn't need engineers. There is a global ecosystem of agencies and freelancers whose entire business is making WordPress do what it was sold to do out of the box.

Salesforce was sold the same way. "Salesforce administrator" is now a six-figure profession.

HubSpot's partner directory lists thousands of agencies who exist to operate the platform.

A whole priesthood of consultants exists to operate the platforms that were sold on the basis you would not need them.

That has been a stable arrangement for fifteen years. AI is starting to break it, because agents are increasingly capable at the layer the consultants own.

I wrote about which categories of SaaS survive this and which do not:

Per-seat pricing is not the real threat. AI collapses the configuration layer that generic platforms charge for. Here is which SaaS categories survive.

29/04/2026

There's now software that listens to interview questions in real time, generates answers using AI, and displays them on a hidden screen overlay. Your screen sharing software cannot detect it - that's a design goal, not a bug.

The answer isn't trying to detect it. The answer is redesigning the interview so that it actually tests what you need to know.

I've written up what still works - including some simple shifts that hold up even as these tools improve. Link in the comments.

22/04/2026

The first week of a project rescue rarely starts with a plan. It starts with listening and understanding what has actually gone wrong, not what people think has gone wrong.

I wrote a day-by-day breakdown of what that process looks like and what we are working to understand before we change anything.

Link in comments.

14/04/2026

Most software projects do not fail suddenly. They fail slowly, with warning signs that get missed along the way.

I have written about the seven most common ones, and there is a free project health diagnostic on the site to help you assess where yours stands.

Link in comments.

12/04/2026

Only 22% of organisations are getting real value from their AI investments, according to Gartner's latest research.

If your organisation is in the 78%, the answer is unlikely to be a different AI tool.

The problem is not technical. It is structural:

Most organisations are designing the ceiling before the foundations are stable. They rush toward agent-based replacements of core systems while skipping the steps that have always mattered in enterprise technology.

They measure AI maturity by the number of tools deployed or pilots completed. Neither measures value. They measure motion.

And they treat data readiness as a future problem rather than a prerequisite, which means implementations proceed on assumptions that quietly undermine every output the system generates.

The organisations getting value did something different. They defined the business outcome before selecting the tool. They treated data quality as a blocker. And they put someone in a position of genuine authority to hold the organisation accountable for the gap between investment and return.

The gap between 22% and 78% is a governance gap. And unlike the technology, governance does not improve automatically with the next model release.

Read the full analysis here:

31/03/2026

One pattern I see repeatedly when working with growing businesses is the gap between what technology costs and what it should cost.

It is rarely about choosing expensive tools. More often, it is about decisions made early on - architecture choices that seemed reasonable at the time, vendor relationships that became dependencies, or technical debt that accumulated quietly while everyone focused on features.

The encouraging thing is that most of these problems are addressable. Not overnight, and not without honest assessment of where things stand. But with clear diagnosis and a sensible plan, technology spending can usually be brought into line without disrupting what is already working.

The first step is always the same. Understand what you have, understand what it is costing you, and understand what it should cost. The gap between the second and third number is where the opportunity sits.

If any of this sounds familiar, it might be worth having a conversation about it.

26/03/2026

Ever wondered what compliance frameworks like GDPR and SOC 2 actually mean for your technical infrastructure?

It's not just paperwork. It's audit trails, encryption standards, access controls, and documented processes that get verified during due diligence.

I've written a practical guide covering GDPR, SOC 2, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001 - what each requires at the technical level, how to assess your readiness, and the common gaps that surface during technical due diligence.

If you're a CTO preparing for investment rounds or acquisition conversations, this breaks down what compliance actually looks like when someone checks under the hood.

24/03/2026

The numbers might surprise you.

When I talk to founders about technology leadership, the first question is almost always about cost. Should we hire a full-time CTO or bring someone in fractionally? The assumption is usually that fractional means compromising on quality or commitment.

The reality is different. A full-time CTO in the UK typically costs between 120,000 and 180,000 in salary alone, before you factor in equity, benefits, and recruitment. For many growing businesses, that is a significant portion of runway spent on a role that may not need to be full-time yet.

I put together a detailed cost comparison that lays out the real numbers side by side. Not a sales pitch for fractional work - just the data, so you can make the decision that fits your situation.

Link in the comments.

17/03/2026

AI is changing how software gets built. But faster does not always mean better.

I have been using AI coding assistants daily for months now, and the reality is more interesting than the headlines suggest. They are genuinely useful for certain tasks - scaffolding projects, writing tests, translating between frameworks. Real time savings that add up.

But they also introduce a new kind of risk. Code that looks correct, reads well, and subtly misses the point. The developers who get the most value are the ones who already have enough experience to spot when the AI gets it wrong.

I wrote about where AI genuinely helps development teams and where it can quietly cause problems. Practical observations from real projects, not vendor marketing.

Link in the comments.

10/03/2026

Thinking about raising investment? Here is what your technology will be assessed on.

When investors conduct technical due diligence, they are not looking for perfect code. They are looking for evidence that someone understands the system, knows where the risks are, and has a plan for what comes next.

I have been on both sides of this process, and the companies that do well are almost never the ones with the most sophisticated technology. They are the ones who can explain their architecture clearly, acknowledge their technical debt honestly, and demonstrate that their deployment process does not depend on a single person.

I wrote a detailed guide covering what technical due diligence actually examines, why it matters, and how to prepare. Whether you are six months from fundraising or just curious about what investors look for under the bonnet, it is worth a read.

Link in the comments.