How an engagement actually runs
The same four phases whichever model you pick. Written down because the thing clients most often complain about with agencies is not knowing what happens next.
Delivery
Four phases, whichever model you pick
Each one ends in something you can read, not a status update.
1 · Discovery
A short paid engagement to turn the ambition into a scope somebody can build and estimate.
- Written scope
- Estimate with assumptions
- Risk register
2 · Design & architecture
Interface and data model settled before anyone writes the feature, because both are expensive to change later.
- Prototype
- Data model
- Architecture decisions recorded
3 · Build
Two-week iterations against a board you can see, with a deployed environment from the first week rather than the last.
- Fortnightly demo
- Staging from week one
- Your repo
4 · Launch & handover
Release, monitoring, and documentation good enough that your own team can take it from here.
- Runbooks
- Monitoring and alerts
- Handover sessions
How we work
Pick the shape that fits the problem
Fixed scope when the requirements are known, a dedicated team when they are still moving.
Fixed-scope project
A defined deliverable at a defined price. Best when requirements are settled and the surface is well understood.
- Milestone billing
- Written acceptance criteria
- Fixed timeline
Dedicated team
Engineers embedded with yours, working your board and your standards. Best for ongoing product work.
- Monthly rolling
- Your tooling and process
- Scale up or down
Consulting & audit
A read on architecture, security, or performance, delivered as findings you can act on without us.
- Fixed engagement
- Written report
- No lock-in
Principles
What we will and will not do
These exist because each one has cost us work at some point, and we would rather lose it up front.
You own the code from the first commit
It lives in your repository, or is transferred at handover. No licence retained, no escrow, no dependency on us to keep running.
We will tell you not to build it
If the thing you asked for is not the thing that solves the problem, that goes in the discovery report — even when the smaller scope is worth less to us.
Estimates carry their assumptions
A number without the assumptions behind it is a guess with a decimal point. Ours name what would change them.
No offshore relay
The people in the kickoff are the people writing the code. Nothing is passed to a team you have not met.
Tell us what you are building.
A short call is usually enough to say whether we are the right team, and what it would take.
- No obligation
- You own the code
- Written scope before work