About Makes Sense Software
A software company born from 25 years of solving operational problems in the field. Not in a lab.
The Origin
Built by Someone Who Lived It
Over a 25-year career spanning France, Spain, and the USA, I held every seat at the operations table: software engineer, project manager, director, COO. At every stage, the same problems came back: building teams, delivering projects, planning capacity.
The tools available were expensive, rigid, and designed for a reality that wasn't mine. Worse, they forced teams into methodologies that didn't fit. So I did what every pragmatic operator does: I built bridges. Redmine for projects, Excel for everything else, connected through ODBC and sheer stubbornness.
That hack scaled from 10 to 300 people. It worked for years. But it was fragile, manual, and impossible to hand off. The data was there, scattered across tabs and queries, but no single tool could unify it.
That's when it clicked: the tool I needed didn't exist. So I started building it. Not as a startup chasing a market, but as an operator solving his own problem. Makes Sense Software was born.
"Throughout this entire journey, I only ever kept two tools by my side: Excel, for its ultimate flexibility, and Redmine, for its undefeated reliability. MSS is what happens when you merge both."
How We Build
Our Philosophy
Three principles guide every decision we make, from pricing to architecture.
Fair, Transparent Pricing
Redmine+ plugins are one-time purchases. Merlin is a SaaS subscription at rates that respect your budget. No hidden fees, no enterprise tax. Whether you choose plugins or platform, you always know what you pay and why.
Your Process, Not Ours
We don't force Scrum, SAFe, or any methodology. Our tools adapt to the way you actually work. Minimum structure, maximum freedom. Because the people closest to the work know best how to organize it.
Your Data, Your Rules
Your data is yours. Whether self-hosted (Redmine+) or on our infrastructure (Merlin), we never mine, sell, or share your data. Each Merlin customer gets their own isolated database. No exceptions.
The Company
Makes Sense Software
MSS is a bootstrapped software company based in Redondo Beach, California. No outside funding, no growth-at-all-costs pressure. We grow at the pace of our products' quality.
We build operational management tools for companies that value pragmatism over hype. From standalone Redmine plugins to a capacity planning SaaS platform, our tools are designed to scale with you.
Based in
Los Angeles, CA
Model
Bootstrapped
Focus
Operational Management
See What We're Building
From standalone Redmine plugins to a capacity planning SaaS platform, we build tools that solve real operational problems.