Technical due diligence is an independent assessment of a piece of technology and the plan to deliver it, carried out for the people who have to make a decision about it. Insurgent Studios has provided it from Edinburgh since 2005. It was the first work the company ever did.
What we look at
We assess three things, and how well they fit together:
- The platform. Whether the technical approach holds together.
- The team. Whether the people, and the way they work, match what the plan asks of them.
- The plan. Whether it can be delivered, and where the risks sit.
A project due diligence covers the same ground from the delivery side: whether the schedule, budget and scope can produce what has been promised.
When to commission it
This is the work to commission when a decision depends on an honest reading of an unfamiliar technology. That might be before a project is funded, part-way through development when the people responsible want an independent view, or when a studio needs to know what a new platform would cost before committing to it.
Engagements we can describe
Most due diligence is confidential, and ours is no exception. We have carried out many more than appear here, for clients we are not able to name and on work we cannot discuss in detail. These three are the ones we can describe.
BTL Group. In the first half of 2018 we provided technical due diligence and project management oversight for BTL Group, a blockchain technology company with offices in London, Vancouver and Calgary, while it developed its Interbit platform. We worked closely with the London office and visited Vancouver.
Rail Simulator. Our founding engagement, in 2005, was a project due diligence for the game’s developer, Kuju Entertainment, and Fund4Games, the company funding its development. After we submitted it, both asked us to come on board and manage and deliver the product, which we did through to release in 2007.
The Ship: Remasted on Linux and Mac. A narrower question of the same kind. In 2016 Blazing Griffin wanted to know what it would take to build and run its game on Linux and Mac. We set up build processes for both platforms, checked that players on different systems could play together, and reported on what each would need to reach a standard worth shipping.
How an engagement runs
A due diligence is a defined question with an end date, and the assessment itself is usually a matter of weeks. Where it comes with continuing oversight, as it did at BTL, the engagement runs longer: that one lasted three to four months. We work closely with the team being assessed and report to whoever commissioned the work.
Sometimes it leads further. Rail Simulator began as a due diligence and became three years of delivery. Otherwise it ends where it was meant to, with an answer.
If you have a decision of this kind to make, tell us about it. Our other services are described separately.