We prefer to work on a modified scrum development methodology, with:

• Frequent check-ins, assessments and reassessments,
• Tasks defined at smallest level and grouped into landmarks,
• Regular assessment and refinement of task sizing,
• Overestimating problem size and delighting in success rather than under-estimation and disaster,
• Tracking tasks through a ticketing system like Jira, referenced with a version control system like BitBucket or GitLab,
• Continuous feedback on success and failure, with integration into the next group of tasks, i.e., “sprints”,
• Asynchronous work and communication through systems like Slack,

We bill in quarter hour increments, with billable tasks including communications, engineering, design, project management, data acquisition, etc. Emergency hours are billed at 150% of the quoted rate. Emergency hours are defined as hours outside the scope of normal working arrangements, or hours introduced by client error that do not allow for previously existing deadlines to be readjusted.

Intellectual property rights are a complicated topic. We strongly believe we work on your behalf and you should own the work we perform at the end of the day. However, we have needs as a company, and believe the following restrictions fair:

• Your data and all derived products from it remain your property, but we reserve the right to use anonymised versions thereof for portfolio and demonstration purposes.  We will never repurpose your data in this way without notifying you and cooperating with you to the greatest extent of both of our abilities.  
• Software developed will remain our property for repurposing, reference and portfolio, but we will never disclose your business practices, requirements and logic without permission and cooperation. We offer you the right to purchase complete ownership of any software you would like to in a separate proposal.
• We will never disclose your unique practices, but defining what is truly unique and subject to NDA’s for your unique needs and mission requires negotiation. For example, we will never disclose how you run your organization, but, “We need a canvassing app that works in rustic areas” is not distinct enough to justify a non-disclosure agreement.
• We will not support forks or modifications to our code as maintenance or error handling, but as new development tasks, and only if we have the capacity.