Approach
The statement of work names the metric. Everything else follows.
Outcome-based consulting is not a slogan. It is how we write the contract, sequence the work, and decide when we are finished.
Phase 0
Fit call
Usually 30–45 minutes
You bring the constraint. We ask what “better” would change in the next quarter — cost, cycle time, incidents, hours, or revenue leakage. If we cannot name a metric, we will not invent a project. If we are not the right firm, we will say so.
Phase 1
Outcome brief
Days to two weeks
A short, paid brief: baseline, target, systems in play, access we need, risks, and what we will not do. You get a written increment plan — not a 60-page strategy. If the brief shows the work is a bad bet, you keep the writing and we stop.
- Baseline and how we will re-measure
- First production increment and rollback
- Owners on your side and ours
- Explicit out-of-scope list
Phase 2
Production increments
Typically 2–6 weeks each
We build in slices that land in production: a cutover, an API, a pipeline, a control, a workflow. Each slice has monitoring, access, and a way to reverse it. Demos are evidence, not the deliverable. We do not disappear into a six-month “phase 1” with a reveal at the end.
Phase 3
Operate and transfer
Through first real failure, then optional
Runbooks, identity, cost guardrails, and a team that can own the system. We prefer to be present for the first production incident after go-live — that is when architecture meets reality. Ongoing operate support is optional, scoped to the same metric, not an open retainer that exists to be billed.
How we decide we are finished
Done is not “code merged.” Done is: the metric moved or we have a documented reason it cannot, the system is observable, someone on your side can change it, and cost is not a surprise. If those are not true, we are still in the engagement.
What we refuse to sell
- Open-ended staff augmentation with no outcome
- Strategy-only decks with no production increment
- AI pilots that cannot be operated or turned off
- Lift-and-shift with no cutover rehearsal
- Security binders nobody will implement
Working with your team
We are a counterpart, not a replacement org chart. We need a named owner on your side who can decide. We work in your repos when that is the right path. We do not require you to fly to Pittsburgh to get production software — the head office is here; delivery is wherever the systems are.
You provide
Access, a decision-maker, the baseline data, and honesty about constraints (politics included).
We provide
Engineering, architecture, and an accountable plan. Written tradeoffs. No surprise scope theater.
Together
A production increment, a re-measure, and a decision to continue, transfer, or stop.
Ready to put an outcome in writing?
Pittsburgh head office. We typically reply within one business day.