Complex technology problems, solved.
Our risk, not yours.
We take on the technology problems organisations struggle to solve — for a fixed price, in short stages you can stop at any point. If it costs more than we said, that's our problem, not yours.
Delivered by our founder across 25+ years in UK government technology, most recently as a senior consultant at one of the world's largest consultancies, before Meladian existed. The wins belong to those teams and their clients; the method and judgement are what Meladian is built on.
Meladian is built around one principal consultant — deliberately.
You get the depth of a big-consultancy lead without the account teams, the hand-offs or the overhead. And when a programme needs more hands, engineers we've delivered with before join the work. What never changes is who scoped it, who leads it, and who answers for it: the person you spoke to first.
The right answer, at a fixed price, with no lock-in.
- 01 · One expert, both sides
Problem and solution, one vision
Usually the business has the problem and engineers offer an answer, and the two are bridged by imprecise communication and iteration. It works, but slowly. Here both sides sit in a unified vision: an approach that yields a better solution at a lower cost.
- 02 · The risk sits with us
A fixed price for an agreed outcome
Like a builder quoting a house — not a temp filling a seat. Time-and-materials pushes the delivery risk onto you. We price the outcome and carry that risk ourselves.
- 03 · We build your capability
Success is not being needed
We don't just deliver the solution. We build the team around it. Patterns, guardrails and hands-on mentoring leave your people more capable, until you don't need us at all.
Bring us the problem, not a job spec.
Every engagement starts with understanding the problem from your side of the divide, then bridging it to the technology. From the budget-holder's boardroom to production code, without the layers in between.
The system everyone's afraid to touch
Business-critical, ageing, half-documented: modernised in reversible steps, with the old system as the safety net.
The system that has to be right first time
New line-of-business systems, designed from the problem, not the brief. Validated early, before serious money is spent.
AI promises everywhere, value nowhere
Structured human + AI-agent delivery. We set the vision and the patterns; the agents take the toil, quality and pace raised together.
The problem nobody can quite pin down
Solution architecture that starts by seeing the problem from your side, then holds the vision all the way to production code.
The delivery that's lost its way
Budget half-spent, nothing shipped. We rebuild the vision and get the programme back on course — working screens in weeks.
Not sure which fits? Most engagements start with an honest conversation about the problem. No pitch, no deck.
Start that conversation →Problem-solving is 10% creativity and 90% communication.
Technology lives on one side of a ravine; the business with the problem lives on the other. If they could bridge that gap themselves, they wouldn't need us. Every solution has to bridge it, but a bridge built from one side only comes out weaker and costs more. Building from both sides is where all of our work starts.
- 01
Feel the problem first
No assumptions, no early solutions. We start on your side of the divide, taking in the problem as if we'd just joined your team. Then we replay it back in your own words, so you know we've understood it before anyone talks solutions.
- 02
Validate before we build
A proposed solution is a model of the world to be tested against the business reality and the technical practicalities. The cheapest place to find a flaw is before a line of code is written, so that's where we hunt for them.
- 03
Flexibility saves
Everyone arrives with a solution already attached to their problem. The danger is falling in love with it. We hold ours loosely, change our minds when the facts do, and treat that as a saving, not a weakness.
- 04
Never go dark
Working screens in front of you every couple of weeks, show-and-tells early and often. Work happens in the bright light of the customer's gaze; that's how course corrections stay small and cheap.
Free until we both believe in it.
We don't build systems that ensnare businesses; we build systems that free them. Engage with us and you keep control: low coupling, no lock-in, and everything you pay for keeps its value on its own. Every stage is your call.
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01 · Talk — freeOur promisesYour call
An honest conversation
About the problem, not a pitch. No deck, no obligation, and a first impression of whether we're a fit for each other.
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02 · Assess — freeOur promisesYour call You own it
Our read of the problem
We investigate alongside you and report back: what we think the problem is, whether we can help, and a fixed quote for what comes next.
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03 · Vision — fixed priceOur promisesYour call You own it Fixed price
A shared vision, tested
The solution described in your language and tested like a hypothesis. If we can't agree a vision, we walk away — the cheapest failure you'll ever have.
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04 · Deliver — fixed price per stageOur promisesYour call You own it Fixed price
Working software every stage
Stages of six weeks or less, each ending in working software with stand-alone value, yours to keep whether you carry on or not. You own everything we build.
What our promises mean for you
At the end of every stage, carrying on is your decision. Stop here and you keep working software that already has value on its own — a graceful exit, not a sunk cost.
Whatever a stage produces is yours to keep — the code, the designs and the decisions behind them. No lock-in, and nothing licensed back to you.
We price the outcome, not our hours. If the work runs longer than we judged, that's ours to absorb — the quote is the quote.
From the people who led the programmes.
Public LinkedIn recommendations from the senior colleagues who led and delivered those programmes.
He shaped a pragmatic, low-risk modernisation approach, helped size the work realistically, and then built and guided the team that delivered it: all four applications shipped on time and within budget, with no defects beyond the cosmetic.
“Ian has a particular talent for bringing stability to challenging situations, helping teams navigate complexity, regain momentum, and successfully deliver outcomes… a genuine technical leader whose influence improves both the people and projects around him.”
“What sets him apart is the breadth of his thinking — beyond code to the architectural, business and user perspectives. He designs genuinely original solutions, presents them convincingly to client decision-makers, and leads teams to deliver them.”
Every quote here is public: written by its author, under their own name, where they still control it.
Read the full recommendations on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)Got a problem everyone says can't be solved?
The first conversation is free: an honest look at the problem, no pitch, no deck. And if Meladian isn't the right fit, we'll say so.