Why Contralto?

A good software product is a rare find in 2025. In 2019 Pendo conducted a report indicating that 80% of features in an average software product are never used. How did we get here?

A product starts as a clean answer to a real problem but slowly drifts into a pile of mismatched features and legacy decisions that no one remembers. Features ship but are rarely measured. Over time, the software becomes heavier, slower, and harder to justify. Everyone from the engineers writing the software to the users engaging with it feel the pain. It just doesn't work.

This isn’t a failure of effort. It’s a failure of information. Teams move fast, manage velocity, and launch iteratively, but they rarely return to a simple question: Did this feature actually solve the problem it was built for?

The truth is brutal. Most teams simply can't tell you. Problems are loosely defined, outcomes are vague, and once features ship they are often forgotten until a bug comes up. As a result complexity grows, value dilutes, and users quietly disengage.

Ship with Intent, Measure with Truth

We believe this can change but not with another backlog tool or a new flavor of agile theater. We need a system that forces clarity from the beginning, encourages questioning while building, and demands accountability at the end. A system grounded in three principles:

1. - Define the problem and outcome first. Every feature must start with a precise problem statement and a measurable desired outcome.
3. - Design only what transforms the problem. Solutions exist to create outcomes.
5. - Measure after release. The real test begins in production. If a feature doesn’t achieve its outcome then it isn’t done.

The Contralto Board

This philosophy lives inside a simple but powerful tool we call The Contralto Board.

The board becomes the living dashboard of your product. It replaces the vague promise of a roadmap with something more honest.

• The Contralto Board is a library of documented problems and outcomes. Each entry gives the product team visibility into what is working, what needs help, and what should be deleted. The tool also attaches relevancy scores which show how important each problem is over time.
• With this new visibility there exists a shared source of truth that aligns strategy, engineering, and design around outcomes.

Roadmaps tell you where you want to go. The Contralto Board shows you where you actually are and where you can go next.

Software as Craft

We believe software is a form of craftsmanship. It should be deliberate, precise and built with intention. Every feature should earn its existence by solving a real problem. Every team should know, with clarity not excuses, what their work is doing for the business and for the people who use it.

We built Contralto for teams that choose intention over inertia. The name says everything. The contralto voice is the deepest human register. It carries weight, honesty, and presence. That is what product leadership should feel like.

We build with depth, measure with truth and work with taste. Today we plant our flag.