How an engagement runs.

The first conversation is usually the most valuable one. Before any recommendation, the work is understanding what you actually have, what you actually need, and where the constraints sit — including the political and budgetary ones, not just the technical.

Inputs

A conversation with you (and whoever else needs to be in it). Read access to whatever systems are relevant. Whatever documentation already exists, however incomplete.

Outputs

A short written summary of what I think you've told me — back to you in your own words. If we got it right, we move on. If we got it wrong, we adjust before going further.

Duration

1–2 weeks for most engagements. Longer if the estate is genuinely complex.

A recommended approach with the trade-offs named honestly — including the option to do less than the obvious thing. The architecture work is as much about constraint as design: what you don't build is often the most valuable decision.

Inputs

The Listen-phase summary, plus deeper access to systems and decision-makers.

Outputs

A written recommendation. Architecture diagrams where they help. Decision records for the choices that future-you will need to understand. A risk and assumption register.

Duration

2–6 weeks depending on scope.

Hands-on implementation, or close support of your team's implementation. Scope and dates are specific and tracked — no vague "we'll get there" updates.

Inputs

Signed-off architecture, access to environments, named technical contacts on your side.

Outputs

Working systems. Tested. With a runbook your team can use the first time they hit an alert at 3am.

Duration

Scope-dependent. Always quoted with a specific end date, not a "until done" framing.

Documentation, training, and a defined window of post-handover support so nothing lands on you cold. This phase is non-optional — the engagement isn't over when the system goes live, it's over when your team can confidently run it.

Inputs

Time with the team that'll inherit the system. A practical handover session, not a deck.

Outputs

Reference documentation (the kind that gets read). A handover summary capturing what's known to be true, what's assumed, and what's deferred.

Duration

4 weeks of post-handover support window is standard, included in the engagement fee.