How we work
Frame, Prove, Build, Hand over
Four phases with an exit date agreed at the start. Writing the exit down first is the thing that changes how the other three get done.
01 · 1–2 weeks
Frame
Work out what the actual constraint is, what a good outcome would look like in numbers, and whether we should proceed at all.
- Read the commercials directly: pipeline, pricing, unit economics, where cash goes.
- Talk to the people doing the work rather than the people describing it.
- Agree the exit criteria in writing, before anything is built or changed.
- Cost the options, including doing nothing, and say which one we would take.
Out · Written diagnosis · Costed options · Agreed exit criteria · A recommendation, including "stop"
02 · 3–6 weeks
Prove
Test the riskiest assumption against reality before spending money on the version that depends on it being true.
- Take the offer to real buyers and ask for the money, rather than asking whether they like it.
- Run the changed process in one team before writing it down for everybody.
- Record what people actually said, including the parts that undermine the plan.
- Revise the estimate in the open when the evidence moves.
Out · Evidence from named buyers or one live team · Revised plan · A go or no-go with reasons attached
03 · 6–16 weeks
Build
Turn the proven thing into something the company runs on ordinary days, with people who were not in the room.
- Build the pipeline, product or process out to the point it survives a normal week.
- Assign owners by name, with the decisions each of them is allowed to make.
- Put the reporting in place before it is needed, so the first bad month is visible early.
- Write the material down where the work happens rather than in a separate document.
Out · Working motion or product · Named owners and decision rights · Reporting that someone reads
04 · 2–4 weeks
Hand over
Demonstrate rather than assert that the company can run this without us, then leave on the date we agreed in Frame.
- Your people run it while we watch and write down where they hesitate.
- Documentation is written at exactly those points, and nowhere else.
- A review of what we got wrong during the engagement, in writing.
- Any continuing arrangement is agreed separately, or not at all.
Out · Demonstrated capability · Handover pack · A written account of what we would do differently
The shapes an engagement takes
Not every problem needs all four phases, and the most useful thing we sell is also the smallest. Fees are quoted per engagement after Frame has established the scope, so nothing is priced before it is understood.
| Shape | Typical length | When it fits | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic | 1–2 weeks | You know something is wrong and want an outside read before committing budget. | Frame only. Written diagnosis, costed options, and a recommendation you can act on without us. |
| Proof | 4–8 weeks | There is a plan, and the plan rests on an assumption nobody has tested. | Frame and Prove. Evidence from real buyers or one live team, and a go or no-go. |
| Delivery | 3–6 months | The direction is settled and the constraint is getting it built and running. | All four phases, ending on the handover date agreed at the start. |
| Standing advice | Monthly, cancellable | You want somebody to argue with before a decision rather than after it. | A fixed amount of time each month. No deliverables, no minimum term, no notice period. |
We are a small firm and we say so plainly. If an engagement needs more people than we have, we will tell you that at the Frame stage rather than after you have signed.
Working agreements
- · We work inside your systems, your meetings and your review process. Not in a parallel workstream revealed at the end.
- · Decisions get written down with the rejected options and what would justify revisiting them.
- · A weekly demonstration of something that works, not a status deck.
- · Scope changes are visible and costed. Nothing is quietly added or quietly dropped.
- · Bad news travels immediately. A slipping estimate is worth more in week three than in week nine.
- · The engagement ends on the agreed date. Extending it is a new conversation, not a default.
When we say no
We decline work where the outcome depends on a market we can see is not there; where the brief is to produce a document for a decision that has already been made; where the timeline only works if the Prove phase is removed; where an existing supplier or off-the-shelf product would do the job better; and where the real problem is a shareholder disagreement rather than an operating one.
Start with what is in the way.
Most of this work is shaped by the obstacle rather than the ambition. A deal that keeps stalling at the same stage, a process nobody owns, a product that will not sell, a decision that has been open for months. Tell us yours and we will say honestly whether we are the right people for it.