The QUANT LAB Methodology
Discovery to launch in a documented, repeatable process. Six phases, written deliverables at every step, and no surprises in the invoice.
Why a written methodology
Most agency engagements fail because nobody can answer the simple question of what is supposed to be delivered, when, and what happens if it is not. Our methodology answers those questions before any code is written.
What follows is the actual process we run on custom business software, custom CRM development, Stripe integrations, and our larger trading and payments builds. Some phases compress on smaller engagements, but nothing gets skipped.
Week 1
Discovery
Deliverable
Statement of Work + technical specification
Discovery is not a sales call dressed up. It is a structured working week where we map your current process, identify the seams where things break, and write down what the software actually has to do.
We sit with stakeholders. We watch how the work happens today. We list the integrations, the data sources, the constraints. By the end of the week you have a written statement of work and a technical specification — both signed off before any code gets written.
Week 2
Architecture & Design
Deliverable
Data model + wireframes + confirmed tech stack
Architecture is where bad projects quietly fail. We invest a full week up front to design the data model, sketch the key user journeys as wireframes, and confirm the tech stack against the constraints we found in discovery.
Our defaults are Next.js for the front end, PostgreSQL for the database, Prisma as the ORM, Stripe for payments, Resend for transactional email, and Vercel for deployment. Defaults get overridden when the project genuinely needs it, never to chase a trend.
Weeks 3 to N
Sprints
Deliverable
Working software at the end of every two-week cycle
We work in two-week sprint cycles. Each sprint starts with a planning call, finishes with a live demo of working software in a staging environment, and is followed by written feedback you can leave in your own time.
Sprints are scoped narrow on purpose. We would rather ship a smaller piece that actually works than a big batch that limps. The number of sprints is set in the SOW and revised explicitly if scope changes. There are no surprise change orders.
Continuous
Testing & Security Review
Deliverable
CI passing, integration tests green, security baseline report
Every commit runs through GitHub Actions CI: type checking, linting, unit tests, and integration tests against a real PostgreSQL test database. Builds that fail CI do not merge. There is no negotiation on that.
Before launch, the codebase gets an OWASP-aligned security review. Dependency scans run through Snyk and GitGuardian, secrets are confirmed to be in environment variables only, and auth flows are walked through manually against an OWASP ASVS Level 2 checklist.
Launch sprint
Deployment & Observability
Deliverable
Production environment + runbook + monitoring
Deployment is Vercel or AWS depending on the workload. We set up production, staging, and preview environments with environment variables managed in the platform, never committed to the repo.
Every QUANT LAB build ships with Sentry error tracking, basic uptime monitoring, and a written runbook covering deploy procedure, rollback procedure, common failure modes, and incident response contacts. The runbook is yours, in your repo, in markdown.
Post-launch
Handoff or Maintenance
Deliverable
Documented handoff package or signed maintenance agreement
After launch you choose: full handoff with documentation and a walk-through for your internal team, or an ongoing maintenance agreement where we handle deploys, dependency updates, security patches, and minor feature work on a monthly retainer.
Either way, you own the code. The repository is in your GitHub organization from the first commit. There is no hostage situation here, no proprietary runtime, no licensing trap.
Engineering Standards
Standards that apply on every engagement.
Code review
Every pull request gets reviewed by the founder before merge. No exceptions, even on tiny fixes. Reviews focus on correctness, security, and whether the code can be understood by a stranger six months later.
Security baseline
OWASP Top 10 awareness, ASVS Level 2 alignment, parameterized queries, secrets out of source control, dependency scanning on every CI run, and a documented incident response procedure before launch.
Tech stack defaults
Next.js App Router, TypeScript strict, PostgreSQL with Prisma, Stripe for payments, Resend for transactional email, Vercel for deployment, Sentry for errors. Boring is a feature.
Version Control & CI/CD
Boring infrastructure done right.
Source lives in GitHub, in your organization, with branch protection enabled on main. Pull requests are the only way code enters main, and every pull request requires CI green plus founder review.
GitHub Actions runs the CI pipeline. Type checking, lint, unit tests, integration tests against an ephemeral PostgreSQL instance, and a build that has to succeed before deploy. Vercel handles preview deploys per pull request — every PR gets a live URL the client can click before merge.
Production deploys happen automatically when main passes CI. Rollback is a single click in Vercel back to any prior deployment, or a revert PR if the change spans schema migrations. Schema migrations always run in a separate deploy from the code that depends on them, in two PRs, not one. We have learned that the hard way and you do not need to.
Sentry runs on every environment. Errors trigger email alerts. Critical paths have synthetic uptime checks. The runbook in your repo tells the on-call engineer exactly what to do when an alert fires.
Security Baseline
Security is not a separate phase.
We run penetration tests for other companies. That experience shows up in how we build. Auth is not bolted on at the end. Data handling is thought through during architecture. Sensitive routes are protected from the first commit, not patched in after launch.
The minimum security baseline for every QUANT LAB build: parameterized queries against the database, secrets in environment variables only, TLS 1.3 on all environments, HTTP security headers configured, dependencies scanned every CI run, and a CSRF + authorization audit before launch. Stripe builds get extra PCI-DSS-aware care to keep card data off our infrastructure entirely.
For a deeper look at how we protect client data and source code, see our security practices page. For the credentialed standards we align to, see certifications & credentials.
Where It Connects
How the methodology fits the rest of the work.
The methodology is half of how we deliver. The other half is the customer-facing process: how leads become projects, how proposals are scoped, and what each stage of a client relationship actually looks like.
If you are evaluating us against other firms, two pieces of reading help: our checklist for choosing a software shop and the deep-dive on custom CRM development. Both reflect the same methodology, applied.
Ready to scope your project?
The first call is a real working call. Bring your problem, we will tell you whether the methodology fits.
Call (770) 652-1282or emailbeltz@quantlabusa.dev