How engagements work
Engagements are scoped so you know what you are getting before it starts, and so the deliverable is something a decision actually gets made from.
A short diagnostic conversation, no charge. The mandate you arrived with is usually not quite the question that needs answering — that gets settled first, in writing, before any work begins.
Internal data, market data, and the interviews that surface what the data cannot. Sources named. Where the evidence is thin, that is stated rather than papered over.
A recommendation with the reasoning attached, the assumptions it rests on made explicit, and the strongest counter-case argued honestly — because someone in the room will make it.
A working session and a deck your C-suite or board can act on. Where a working system is the more useful artifact than a document, that gets built and handed over running.
Shapes of engagement
Engagements are discrete pieces of work with a defined end, not a standing retainer. Scope, deliverable and fee are agreed in writing before anything starts.
A short conversation, no charge, to settle what the actual question is. Most mandates arrive one level too broad. Often this is all you need, and if the work is not something I should take, that gets said here.
What arrivesThe question written down, and an honest read on whether it is worth paying anyone to answer.The question scoped, internal and market evidence assembled, the interviews that surface what the data cannot, and an argument built to survive the room it will be presented in.
What arrivesA written recommendation with its evidence base, the assumptions and their sensitivities, and a deck your C-suite or board can decide from.Where AI pays in your business, where it does not yet, what has to be true first, and what it costs to keep running once the pilot is over. Written plainly enough to be argued with.
What arrivesA prioritised view with the honest negatives kept in — including the cases where the answer is 'not yet, and here is why'.Where a working system is the more useful artifact than a document, it gets built rather than specified. This is designed, governed and documented work, not a script written over a weekend.
What arrivesThe running system, handed over with its documentation and the reasoning behind how it is built.A well-scoped one-off is a good outcome for both sides. Nothing here is priced by the hour.
What you get
What a deliverable looks like: a written recommendation, the evidence base behind it, the assumptions and their sensitivities, and a decision-ready deck. Where a build is in scope, the running system and its documentation come with it.
Where this fits, and where it does not
- A broad mandate that has to become a decision.
- An AI question where the honest answer might be ‘not yet, and here is why’.
- Work that will be argued with by people who know the business well.
- Staff augmentation by the hour.
- A deck to justify a decision already made.
- Anything where the answer is required to come out a particular way.
Start with the diagnostic
Tell me what is stuck. If it is not something I should take, I will say so and point you somewhere better.
Start a conversation