Insights
Pillar guides, cost models and buyer's frameworks on AI development, data platforms, MVPs and custom software — written by the engineers who deliver them, not a content team.
Each topic cluster has one comprehensive guide. Read it first, then go deeper with the supporting articles.
Buyer's guides · Pillar guide
The pillar buyer's guide: why listicles mislead, a weighted scorecard, an RFP template and the reference calls that reveal how a vendor behaves under pressure.
Decision · 12 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to buying ML: use-case selection, the delivery lifecycle, MLOps expectations, cost bands and how return is actually measured.
Consideration · 13 min read ·
Data engineering · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to data platforms: reference architecture, build sequence, governance model, cost control and the anti-patterns that produce expensive shelfware.
Consideration · 14 min read ·
Startups & MVP · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to MVPs in the AI era: how to scope one, what to build versus assemble, an eight-week plan and the evidence investors actually ask for.
Awareness · 13 min read ·
Software engineering · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to custom software: build-versus-buy economics, scoping, delivery models, pricing, governance and the risks that sink projects.
Consideration · 14 min read ·
AI development · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to buying AI engineering: capability model, delivery model, pricing structures, evaluation criteria and the failure modes that kill AI programmes before production.
Consideration · 14 min read ·
Buyer's guides
A 12-month transformation blueprint: how to pick the first portfolio, stand up governance, build capability and report progress the board believes.
Decision · 13 min read ·
Buyer's guides
Rates, time-zone overlap, communication cost, legal exposure and delivered value compared — with a decision matrix by project type and risk profile.
Decision · 10 min read ·
Buyer's guides
Models, real costs, contracts, IP, security and the weekly operating rhythm that separates successful outsourcing from expensive disappointment.
Consideration · 12 min read ·
Buyer's guides
A differentiation test, five-year TCO comparison and lock-in analysis — plus the hybrid pattern that lets you buy the commodity and build the edge.
Decision · 11 min read ·
Buyer's guides · Pillar guide
The pillar buyer's guide: why listicles mislead, a weighted scorecard, an RFP template and the reference calls that reveal how a vendor behaves under pressure.
Decision · 12 min read ·
Software engineering
Rewrite, replatform, refactor or encapsulate? An assessment method, the strangler-fig pattern in practice, and how to keep the business running throughout.
Consideration · 13 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI
Agents are workflow software with a probabilistic core. The architecture, approval gates and observability that make them safe — and the processes to start with.
Consideration · 12 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI
What an LLM is, in language a board can act on: capability, cost, failure modes, vendor lock-in and the governance questions to ask before deployment.
Awareness · 10 min read ·
Data engineering
Three disciplines, constantly confused in job specs. Responsibilities, deliverables, tools, hiring order and the team structures that actually ship.
Awareness · 9 min read ·
Startups & MVP
The diligence checklist for choosing a build partner: team seniority, decision rights, IP, exit terms and the contract clauses that protect a startup.
Decision · 11 min read ·
Software engineering
Modular monolith, services or events? A decision framework grounded in team size, change rate and failure domains rather than conference fashion.
Awareness · 12 min read ·
Software engineering
Multi-tenancy, billing, entitlements, compliance and onboarding — the decisions taken in month one that determine whether a SaaS can scale internationally.
Consideration · 13 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to buying ML: use-case selection, the delivery lifecycle, MLOps expectations, cost bands and how return is actually measured.
Consideration · 13 min read ·
Data engineering
The unglamorous work behind good AI answers: inventory, permission-aware retrieval, chunking strategy, freshness and the metrics that prove readiness.
Consideration · 12 min read ·
Data engineering
Six pipeline patterns, when each applies, and the reliability practices — idempotency, backfills, contracts, observability — that keep them from waking you at 3am.
Awareness · 11 min read ·
Data engineering · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to data platforms: reference architecture, build sequence, governance model, cost control and the anti-patterns that produce expensive shelfware.
Consideration · 14 min read ·
Data engineering
Every stalled AI programme has the same root cause. Data engineering explained in business terms, with a maturity test you can run this week.
Awareness · 10 min read ·
Startups & MVP
Four models for technical leadership, what they cost in cash and equity, and the ten questions a non-technical founder can use to audit any build.
Awareness · 10 min read ·
Startups & MVP
AI compresses some parts of a build by 40% and adds risk to others. Here is the honest split, with the guardrails that keep velocity from becoming rework.
Awareness · 10 min read ·
Startups & MVP
Scaling is a sequence, not a heroic rewrite. Here is the order to do things in — and the technical debt that is worth taking deliberately.
Awareness · 12 min read ·
Startups & MVP · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to MVPs in the AI era: how to scope one, what to build versus assemble, an eight-week plan and the evidence investors actually ask for.
Awareness · 13 min read ·
Software engineering
A defensible cost model: rates by region and seniority, line items most quotes hide, three worked budgets and the five levers that actually move the number.
Decision · 12 min read ·
Software engineering · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to custom software: build-versus-buy economics, scoping, delivery models, pricing, governance and the risks that sink projects.
Consideration · 14 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI
A decision matrix across cost, accuracy, freshness and maintenance — plus the hybrid pattern most mature teams end up with.
Consideration · 11 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI
A full RAG reference: chunking strategies, hybrid retrieval, reranking, citation, caching, evaluation — and the seven mistakes that make RAG look bad.
Consideration · 13 min read ·
Machine learning & GenAI
Most internal assistants die of low adoption, not bad models. The architecture, permission model and adoption design that keep usage above 50%.
Consideration · 12 min read ·
Startups & MVP
Three worked MVP budgets, the hidden line items founders forget, and the four levers that reduce cost without producing something unlaunchable.
Decision · 11 min read ·
AI development
Advisory decks do not ship. Delivery without strategy ships the wrong thing. Here is how to sequence the two and what each should cost.
Consideration · 10 min read ·
AI development
A weighted scorecard, the RFP questions that actually discriminate between vendors, and eleven red flags worth walking away from.
Decision · 11 min read ·
AI development
Most generative AI never leaves the demo. This is the production path: architecture, evals, guardrails, cost control, release management and the metrics that justify the next quarter.
Consideration · 13 min read ·
AI development
Off-the-shelf AI stops where your workflow starts. Here is the reference architecture, team shape and delivery sequence behind custom AI products that survive contact with real users.
Consideration · 12 min read ·
AI development
A cost model you can defend in a board meeting: what drives AI application budgets, what the line items actually are, and three worked examples from pilot to platform.
Decision · 12 min read ·
AI development · Pillar guide
The pillar guide to buying AI engineering: capability model, delivery model, pricing structures, evaluation criteria and the failure modes that kill AI programmes before production.
Consideration · 14 min read ·
Migrating an AI-generated prototype? Read how we take a vibe-coded MVP to production.
Next step
Bring the problem to a discovery call and we will tell you what we would build first, and what it costs.
Weekly digest
A hand-picked list of the best AI and product engineering reads, plus build notes from real Golux projects.
