IR35, Here it Comes Again... In 2021 the reform to IR35 Off-Payroll rules is to be rolled out to the private sector. As before the reform will only affect companies that do not meet the following attributes: an annual turnover below £10m fewer than 50 employees or a...

Solving the Resource Conundrum Picture this. One minute all is fine and dandy, you have access to all the resources you could possibly need, then bam an unexpected challenge arises. Suddenly you find yourself lacking the capacity to meet the new need. What are your...

Quality - An Aid to Produce Consistent Rubbish Another year has passed, and myself and a colleague have hosted a BSI auditor for our annual ISO9001/TickITplus check-up, and in fact this was more than the regular check, in that it was our 3-year re-certification audit,...

The Hazards of Legacy Systems Being the owner of a software system with a dedicated customer base sounds like the kind of position one would like to find themselves in. At least until it gets superseded and you have to face dealing with a legacy system. Many...

How to Test Without Access to The Test Environment In many of our previous articles, we have expressed the importance of achieving a high standard of testing. Potentially blocking this achievement, several factors can come together to affect the quality of your...

The Technical Workshop - How To Make Them Work For You Anyone experienced in product design will understand just how valuable a facilitated workshop can be. Bringing together a project's key stakeholders into a single space allows for the exploration of diverse...

Developing Software for Safety Related Systems Software systems should always be both robust and reliable, however the moment you introduce a safety element, this need for reliability increases significantly. The level of safety required is governed by the severity...

How to Choose an Outsourcing Partner Having recognised a need to outsource, and worked your way through the initial preparations, you are now in a strong position to seek out a suitable partner. Choosing an outsourcing partner is no trivial affair, so taking the time...

Preparing to Outsource: A How to Guide So you have recognised a need for external assistance. You have weighed up all of your options and concluded that outsourcing would be the best course of action. Now you are probably wondering what you need to do in preparation...

Why do People Outsource? Throughout our years of operation, we have had the opportunity to help many different clients realise the software components of their business goals. As one can imagine, to reach the position that we find ourselves in today, we have had to...

Already Looking to the Future: Where Do We Go Next? Over the last couple of months, we have shared our journey to develop and implement a more flexible approach to project management. We have shared how a combination of Agile and Waterfall allowed us to overcome the...

Portfolio Management: The Final Hurdle Through our continuous improvement initiatives, we identified aspects of our approach to project management that could be improved upon and took on the challenge of developing and implementing a series of improvements. To meet...

What is IR35? Two years ago, businesses were frantically fortifying themselves against the introduction of GDPR. In 2021, the private sector will be bracing itself for the latest delayed reform to IR35 with the introduction of new off-payroll working rules. What is...

Critical Success Factors As a general rule, human beings dislike change, preferring the sense of security and comfort that stems from consistency. However, sometimes, change is the best course of action. When we began the process of developing a new approach to...

Harnessing the Hybrid As outlined in the previous article, having identified several shortcomings in our approach to project management, we sought to develop and implement a series of improvements. With our diverse business environment, we looked into the possibility...

Zircon's Project Management Challenge Here at Zircon, we have adopted the concept of continuous improvement across all aspects of the business. Having identified shortcomings in our approach to project management, we undertook the challenge of developing and...