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A free checklist that tests whether a proposed custom software project has the problem definition, ownership, evidence and success measures to start safely, and gives an honest next step: strategy, discovery, prototype, build or defer.
Readiness: ready for structured discovery, not yet ready to build. The problem, users and internal owner are well defined; requirements are still at the idea stage, and there is no documented build-versus-buy comparison.
Missing inputs: success measures beyond “save time”, integration detail for the finance system, and a named post-launch owner. Main delivery risks: unvalidated workflow assumptions and an unscoped data-migration step. Recommended next step: a scoped discovery phase, with the preparation sequence laid out as tasks you can complete before anyone writes code.
The checklist works through ten readiness areas, branching by initiative type (internal software, customer-facing software, an integration, an AI-enabled product or a website/platform build) so you only answer questions relevant to your project.
Each answer is assessed against defined readiness criteria for its area, and the result is a readiness status per domain rather than a single score. The recommended next step (strategy, discovery, prototype, build or defer) follows fixed rules from the pattern of gaps, and service routes are only suggested where a gap genuinely calls for one.
Results are rule-based guidance generated from self-reported answers. They are directional, not accounting, legal or other professional advice, and a professional review working from evidence may reach different conclusions.
The checklist is designed to run inside Web Lifter Studio. Your responses are saved as a project-readiness record in your own workspace, so you can add evidence and documents over time and re-run the checklist before requesting a proposal. Responses are used to generate your result and to carry confirmed project context into an enquiry if you choose to make one, so you are never asked to repeat yourself. They are not published. If you join the waitlist before launch, your details are used only to tell you when the tool opens.
An internal workflow tool, a customer-facing product, an integration, an AI-enabled build and a website or platform project fail for different reasons, so the checklist branches by initiative type rather than asking one generic question set. An AI-enabled product is pressed harder on data readiness and post-launch oversight; an integration is pressed harder on the systems either side of it; a customer-facing build is pressed on adoption and support. The result reflects the risks of the project you are actually proposing.
Readiness is rarely a one-pass exercise. The checklist is designed so gaps convert into discovery tasks you can work through inside Studio, evidence and documents attach to the record as they are confirmed, and the checklist can be re-run before you request a proposal. When you do open an enquiry, the confirmed project context travels with it. The preparation work is the head start, not a form you fill in twice.
When the result points at a constraint that needs professional depth, these engagements pick it up.
Registration is free, no card required, and your results save to your workspace so the working stays in one place.