Anatomy of a software house

The purpose of this chapter is to study in detail a hypothetical company in order to understand the apphcation, in practice, of some of the ideas described in the two previous chapters. Although the company is hypothetical, it is based on the author s experiences in the software industry. 

Syniad Software Ltd was founded some ten years ago by foin friends and colleagues who still own most of the shares in the company all four are members of the Board of Directors, along with two others who were recraited later. 

The company specializes in the production of bespoke software for clients who demand work of high quality much of this work is advanced, in the sense that it demands the use of techniques that have only recently been developed or, in some cases, demands the development of completely new techniques. Along with this development work, there is a significant amount of consultancy work in similar areas. 

Syniad s head office is some 40 miles west of London. An office south of Manchester was opened in 1993 and some 40 staff are based there. An office was opened in Delft in the Netherlands in 1996 the only staff based there are its manager, a salesman and a secretary but a number of contracts have been won and carried out using UK-based staff. 

The Operations Director is resportsible for all the revenue earning operatiorts of the company. It is his job to ensttre that all projects are completed satisfactorily arrd that resources are available to carry out the projects that the company wins he is also responsible for ertsttring that the utilization of 

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