Yila Consulting is a software engineering consultancy based in Cape Town, South Africa. Since their inception in 2009, they have been advising a variety of clients, from technology startups to established multinational corporations, on software architecture, design and software development process. They believe that software engineering is still very immature as a discipline and are continually interested in finding ways of improving the way people design and deliver software. They specialise in the initiation of new software projects and act as change catalysts to existing software projects that reached a point where this is required.

Approach
Fundamental to Yila's approach is a willingness to get deeply involved in the technical details of their clients' software, while retaining the ability to relate to the software architecture at the required level of abstraction. This allows them to act on the practical realities faced by implementers while promoting alignment between the software development effort and its broader technical and business context.

Continual change is a prominent feature of most software projects and Yila acknowledges and manages this on different fronts. On the technical side, they define architectures that support the desired amount of flexibility, both in the axes of extension that it provides as well as the way in which it manages the complexity associated with a flexible design. They mitigate the impact of change on a project's cost and schedule by advocating an incremental delivery approach that addresses the largest risks first and delivers business value sooner.

For organisations that use predominantly off-the-shelf software, Yila acts as an independent consultant, advising customers on suitable technology choices based on their requirements. In this role, their independence and ability to comprehend a large variety of technologies are valued. Where they require detailed analysis beyond their field of expertise, they will involve other consultants, some which are partners.

Services

Examples of specific Yila engagements are as follows:

• Performing due diligences on new projects or projects in distress and advising on a way forward.
• Developing a software development roadmap, aligned towards a business roadmap, that is cognisant of the business needs and constraints.
• Defining a systems-level functional architecture, spanning multiple systems that can be independently developed, in support of a development roadmap.
• Defining detailed reference architectures and solutions that demarcate layered subsystems to ensure maintainable code.
• Defining integration architectures and technology choices supporting these.
• Advising on meeting scalability and redundancy requirements.
• Bootstrapping projects, by writing and handing over code that adheres to a well-defined functional and solution architecture.
• Providing technical leadership by advising teams on technology, design and architecture choices.
• Perform code and design reviews and recommend improvements.
• Mentoring, guiding and growing delivery teams.

People

With a combined experienced of more than 30 years on commercial software projects, Yila's founders, Gerhard Esterhuizen and Donald Graham, have been involved with a variety of projects in disparate settings.

Educated in engineering, computing and management, Gerhard has experience with software in the telecommunications, mining and media sectors. Gerhard is passionate about software and systems that address real business needs. Having worked in less technical positions, as a Business Analyst and Enterprise Architect, he has a strong appreciation for the view "from the other side". This has, however, not undermined his technical abilities and he is still capable of producing code that solves complicated problems. His obsessions are testing things into production, not adopting processes blindly and delivering value incrementally. Gerhard holds a M.Sc. Eng. (Electric and Electronic) from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

With an education in finance and management, and a passion for software engineering, Donald has an unusual combination of financial and software skills. He has worked on software projects in the financial services and telecommunications sectors, and is obsessive about the role of software in business processes. Donald holds a B. Bus. Sc. (Actuarial Science) from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

For a free consultation, contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Alternatively, visit http://www.yilaconsulting.com for more information.

5th Floor
125 Buitengracht Street
Cape Town
8001

Tel: +27 82 370 9737
Fax: +27 86 549 5635

Visit our website

PO Box 50461
Waterfront
8002
South Africa