Index
Writing
Working notes.
What our team writes about software, AI and regulation. Each piece carries its author’s name.
Pieces on regulation are for information only and are not legal advice. See the Legal Notice.
Software development process
How a software project runs from proposal to delivery
From the first meeting to maintenance: the steps in a software project, what the organisation does at each step and what we deliver. Most surprises turn up when one of these steps is skipped.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
2 October 2026
Choosing a software company
Ten questions to ask when choosing a software company
The proposals look alike, and so do the reference lists. What sets a software company apart is how it answers questions at the first meeting. I explain which questions you should ask, and why we want to be asked them.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
30 September 2026
Custom software
Off-the-shelf package or custom software: how to decide
Not every need calls for custom software. Sometimes an off-the-shelf product is cheaper and the better fit. I explain which one we recommend in which situation, and why, as a software company, we sometimes say let’s not build it.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
27 September 2026
Custom software
What drives the cost of custom software
The answer to “how much will this software cost?” is not a single figure. Integrations, data, security, uncertainty and maintenance drive the cost more than the number of screens. I explain which items to look at when reading a software proposal.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
23 September 2026
Software architecture
How to build a corporate website: notes from our own site
Around three hundred pages in seven languages, a strict security policy and tests that run on every push. I explain which decisions we made for a corporate site, why we made them and where we got things wrong.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
18 September 2026
AI agents
An AI agent that answers email: how we drew KAI’s limits
The AI on our team answers routine emails and schedules meetings by itself. Anything that is not routine, it only prepares as a draft. I explain where we drew that line and why.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
12 September 2026
Data migration
Data migration when moving to new software: why we count records three times
Data migration projects usually run into trouble not because of the code, but because of a few hundred records nobody counted. I explain what we check before, during and after a migration.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
4 September 2026
Artificial intelligence
When human oversight of an AI system does not work
The most faked component in AI governance is human oversight. If the approval rate is approaching one hundred per cent, the system is making the decision in practice.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
30 August 2026
Acceptance criteria
The most overlooked clause in a software project: acceptance criteria
The argument over whether software was delivered comes from acceptance criteria never having been written. That single gap is the common thread in disputes that drag on for months.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
21 August 2026
Data protection
A cloud service abroad also means a data transfer
A cross-border transfer isn't limited to deliberately sending a file abroad. Using a service whose servers sit in another country is a transfer too, and most organisations realise this late.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
11 August 2026
Data protection
72 hours after a data breach: where the time goes on the software side
The real bottleneck in breach notification isn't legal. Most of the time is spent working out what data was held where, and that tracing often can't be done fast enough.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
1 August 2026
Data protection
Why a privacy notice should match the database schema
If a notice was copied from a template, it fails on the first question: where did these data categories actually come from?
Tarık İsmet Alkan
25 July 2026
Data protection
KVKK-compliant software: starting with a data inventory
Most compliance work starts with the privacy notice. That's the wrong order. Every document written before the inventory is an unverified assertion.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
20 July 2026
Legal technology
Legal technology software needs more than document generation
LegalTech tends to mean document generation. But the field's actual problem is applying a legal interpretation, once it's been given, consistently and provably every time the system runs.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
16 June 2026
Satellite data
State responsibility in space technology start-ups
Article 6 of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty holds the state responsible for a private company's activity. That one provision shapes the entire contract structure of a space venture from the outset.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
9 June 2026
Medical device software
When does health software count as a medical device
What regulatory regime a health app falls under isn't decided by the code. It's decided by the intended purpose the manufacturer declares. And getting that wrong is an expensive, easily avoided mistake.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
5 June 2026
Remote learning
Mandatory webcams in online exam software and proportionality
Exam integrity is a legitimate aim. That doesn't, by itself, make recording a student's home for two hours legitimate too. What decides it is proportionality.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
23 May 2026
Data protection
Why a software product is not subject to a single law
There is no single Turkish statute called 'IT law.' The field runs across the intersection of at least six laws, and a single incident can trigger consequences under three of them at once.
Tarık İsmet Alkan
19 May 2026