How we deliver
Four shapes, and one we will not do.
Most of what goes wrong in consulting is scoping, not delivery. These are the shapes we work in, what each is actually for, and how to tell which one you need. [Draft copy]
The four shapes
Every engagement is one of these or a sequence of them. We would rather sell you the small one first and earn the next.
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Diagnostic — two to three weeks, fixed
We establish what is actually true: the estate, the gap against your obligation, and what would have to change. It ends in a document you keep whether or not we do anything else, and it is deliberately cheap enough to be a low-risk way to find out whether we are any good.
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Design — fixed scope, fixed price
Target architecture, operating model or control set, with decisions recorded and alternatives noted. Enough to be built by us, by your team, or by someone else entirely.
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Delivery — tranches, sequenced by your obligation
Built and handed over in pieces, ordered by what your regulator, auditor or customer forces first rather than by what is technically tidiest. Each tranche stands alone, so you can stop between them.
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Enablement — your team, our practice
We pair until your people are running it, with the Academy course underneath for the ones who join later. This is the exit, and it is scheduled at the start.
[Draft copy] — durations and shapes to be confirmed by the principals.
Choosing between them
| If this is your situation | Start here |
|---|---|
| A date has landed and you do not yet know the size of the problem | Diagnostic |
| You know the gap and need something defensible to build against | Design |
| The design exists and the constraint is capacity and evidence | Delivery |
| It is built, and the risk is that it decays once we leave | Enablement |
| You are not sure | Diagnostic. It is the cheapest way to find out. |
A retained advisory arrangement sits alongside these for organisations that want a senior second opinion on call rather than a programme. It is deliberately small and it is not a way to keep us on the payroll. [Draft copy]
The one we will not do
We do not sell staff augmentation. If what you need is capable hands on a seat for six months, we are the wrong firm and an honest one will cost you less.
It is not snobbery. Our whole model is that the people who scope the work deliver it, and billing that model by the seat produces the worst of both: senior rates for work that does not need seniority, and no accountability for the outcome. Firms built for that are better at it than we would be, and we will happily say who.
[Draft copy] — confirm the firm is comfortable declining this publicly.
What it costs
Diagnostics are fixed price. Design is fixed price. Delivery is priced per tranche, agreed before the tranche starts. There are no rate cards attached to a pyramid, because there is no pyramid.
[Client decision — §17.2] Whether indicative ranges are published here is open. Publishing them turns a structural advantage into something a buyer can verify in thirty seconds; it also shows your pricing to competitors. This section is written so ranges drop straight in if the answer is yes, and reads complete if it is no.
Where most people start
A diagnostic, because it is the cheapest way for both sides to find out whether this works. You get a document you keep. We find out whether we can actually help, which we would rather learn in week two than month four.
If you already know what you need, skip it and tell us. [Draft copy]
Tell us what you are being asked to prove.
Tell us what has landed and we will tell you which shape fits — including if the answer is none of them.
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