The Problems BackBuild Solves
Large and complex software programmes, especially multi-feature apps, legacy-tech migrations, and redesigns, burn millions of $ because teams start work before the order of work is fully understood. Sometimes a lack of foresight results in the biggest tech failures. No business, working without foresight, is immune, no matter how big or successful.
Design starts in random places, or where the business thinks there will be most value
Teams create UIs without knowing constraints like:
- whether the API can do what’s needed
- whether data is available
- what logic sits underneath
- what states the components need
- how much time they’ll have to test with users or refine their work
This results in frustration, tensions, rework, delays and wasted months of effort.
Engineering squads start too early
Leaders hire full squads from day 1 but there’s no clarity and nothing is ready for them to build yet, so they sit idle, burning budgets, while product, design and research scramble, which often results in rushing and corner cutting.
Hidden dependencies appear too late
Things like data gaps, legal blockers, integration restrictions, or technical unknowns only appear:
- after designs are complete
- after work is estimated
- or once engineers try to build
Each “dependancy” triggers rewrite after rewrite. Sometimes it kills an entire project.
Team shape stays fixed even when the work doesn’t
Upfront discovery may actually require:
- 2 designers
- 1 product manger
- 1 technical architect
- 0 engineers
But instead companies run fixed squad shapes and sizes based on assumptions.
This leads to:
- frustrated stakeholders
- confusion over who is doing what and why
- poor co-ordination
- wasted burn
- overloaded designers
- idle engineers
- blown timelines