A company can own its code and still be unable to change its product. That is why I assess the delivery arrangement as part of the investment, alongside the feature list.
A client was considering an agency build. I chose an internal delivery model with the same scope, keeping technical direction and engineering judgement inside the venture.
Making a small team viable
An agency quote covers a delivery organisation: project management, engineering, QA, design, discovery, sales, commercial margins and provision for uncertainty. I took technical direction and delivery leadership myself, making an internal build with one engineer viable.
AI could carry implementation volume; technical judgement, review and responsibility still needed owners.
Same delivery scope
Agency proposals
Including delivery organisation and overhead
CHF 350'000–480'000
Proposal price
Internal build
Same scope, Matthias leading one engineer. AI generated 95% of code; the engineer challenged, reviewed and improved it.
≈ CHF 74'000
Internal engineering salary costs
Ask what happens after delivery
Who understands the important decisions? Who can make the next change? Who knows whether it is safe to release?
Those questions affect how the business learns from customers and the cost of every subsequent decision. A repository alone does not answer them.
The same engineer who challenged and improved the AI-generated code understood how the product worked. That knowledge stayed inside the venture after delivery.
Choose the capability the business needs
An agency can provide valuable specialist skills or delivery capacity. I routinely work through partners. What matters is whether the company can direct the work, assess what it receives and make its next decision.
Here, AI changed the amount of implementation one engineer could carry, while technical judgement and review remained essential. A different product or team may need another arrangement. Choose around the work ahead.
Challenge the delivery model before investing more
Before increasing a development budget, ask what capability you are buying and which dependencies you will retain. Can the team make the decisions it needs? Does the next change become easier, or create another handover?
Often my role is less about adding more, and more about removing what doesn’t serve the business.
Software delivery continues after the first release. Fund a model that leaves the company able to continue with it.
Read the internal-build case. · Compare complete delivery costs.
Applying this to your business
I connect investment decisions to architecture, team leadership and delivery through a CTO mandate or focused assignment. How we work together.