How we work
A process built to find out early
- 011–3 weeks
Understand
We learn the business before the brief. Stakeholder interviews, data review, process observation and competitive context — enough to tell you if you have framed the problem correctly.
- Problem statement
- Current-state assessment
- Success measures and baseline
- 021–2 weeks
Decide
Options with real costs, risks and tradeoffs — including doing nothing. We recommend clearly and state what would change our view, then commit to a sequenced plan.
- Options with cost and risk
- Recommendation and rationale
- Sequenced roadmap
- 032–6 weeks
Design
Architecture, interface, content model and integration design, validated with prototypes and real users before engineering effort is committed to an assumption.
- Solution architecture
- Interactive prototype
- Validated design system
- 04Ongoing
Build
Two-week increments with working software at the end of each, deployed to an environment you can use. Automated tests and CI/CD from the first commit, not the last month.
- Working software each sprint
- Automated test coverage
- Deployment pipeline
- 051–4 weeks
Launch
Migration rehearsals, phased rollout, training and a hypercare period where we sit close to users while new habits form and the edge cases surface.
- Tested migration
- Training and documentation
- Hypercare support
- 06Continuous
Improve
Measure against the baseline, act on what the data says, and review quarterly whether the work is still the highest-value thing we could be doing for you.
- Performance reporting
- Prioritized backlog
- Quarterly business review
Engagement models
Four ways to work with us
Fixed-scope project
A defined deliverable, timeline and price. Best when the problem is well understood and the outcome is specific — a website, a brand identity, an audit, a first release.
- Suits
- Clear scope, defined end state
- Commitment
- 4–16 weeks typical
Dedicated squad
A cross-functional team working to your roadmap at a monthly rate. Best for continuous product development where priorities evolve faster than a fixed scope can accommodate.
- Suits
- Ongoing product work
- Commitment
- 3-month minimum
Growth retainer
Monthly marketing execution with quarterly strategy — SEO, paid media, content, lifecycle. Best when the work is continuous by nature and compounds over time.
- Suits
- Marketing and demand programs
- Commitment
- 6-month minimum
Advisory
Senior technical or strategic judgment on a part-time basis. Best for companies that need experienced perspective on the decisions that matter without a full-time hire.
- Suits
- Architecture, vendor and roadmap decisions
- Commitment
- Monthly, cancel anytime
First thirty days
What actually happens after you sign
- Day 0
Signature and kickoff scheduled
Contract signed, the principal and squad are named, and a kickoff is booked within five business days. Access requests go to your IT team the same day, because that queue is usually the critical path.
- Days 1–5
Kickoff and baseline
We agree the success measures and record where they stand today. Without a baseline captured before we change anything, no result later is provable — this is the step most engagements skip and later regret.
- Days 6–15
Deep dive
Stakeholder interviews, system walkthroughs and data review. You get a written current-state assessment, including the things we found that you did not ask us to look at.
- Days 16–25
Direction agreed
Options with real costs and risks, a clear recommendation, and what would change our view. Once you choose, the plan is sequenced into two-week increments with dates.
- Days 26–30
First working increment
Something real is deployed to an environment you can open. Not a prototype in a design tool — running software or a live campaign, however small, so the delivery rhythm is proven before it matters.
If nobody records where the numbers stood before we touched anything, every result afterwards is a claim rather than a measurement.
Working rhythm
The cadence, and what each part is for
Daily standup
15 minutes, async by defaultWritten in the shared channel so it is searchable later and does not require anyone to be awake at a particular hour. Video when something needs a conversation rather than a status.
Sprint review
Every two weeksA walkthrough of working software in a live environment, with the next increment's scope agreed at the end. Attendance is optional; the recording and the notes are not.
Written status
Weekly, every FridayShipped, next, blocked, and any change to the estimate. One page. Sent whether or not the week went well.
Steering review
MonthlyBudget consumed against value delivered, risks with owners, and an explicit question about whether this is still the highest-value thing we could be doing for you.
Escalation path
Same business dayA named principal and a stated response time. If something is going wrong you should hear it from us first — a status report that only ever contains good news is not a status report.
What we need from you
The half of the project that is yours
- 2–4 hours per week
A decision-maker who can decide
One person with the authority to approve scope, sign off on direction and break a tie. Projects do not usually fail on engineering — they stall waiting for a decision nobody is empowered to make.
- 4–8 hours in discovery
Access to the people who do the work
Time with the staff who actually run the process we are changing. An hour with the person doing the job is worth a week of assumptions.
- Start before kickoff
Systems and credentials
Read access to the systems in scope early, so integration surprises surface in week two rather than week ten. Getting this through your IT process is often the longest lead time in the project.
- Ongoing, front-loaded
Content and data
Copy, imagery, product data and migration sources. This is the single most common cause of a slipped launch date, and it is almost always underestimated.
- 2–3 hours per cycle
Timely review
Feedback on deliverables within the agreed window, consolidated into one voice rather than arriving as contradictory notes from four people over three weeks.
If any of these is genuinely unavailable, tell us in scoping rather than at kickoff. There are ways to work around a missing decision-maker or a locked-down system — they cost time and money, and both belong in the estimate rather than in a slipped date.
The people you meet during the pitch. We do not sell with principals and deliver with juniors — every engagement has named senior people accountable for it, and you will know who they are.
Next step
Stage one is a conversation
Thirty minutes to understand what you are trying to move. If there is a fit, we propose a scoped first step with a fixed price.
No pitch deck. A 30-minute conversation about what you are trying to achieve.