How we work
Start small. Find out what the problem costs before you fund the fix.
Most work begins as a scoped review of two to seven weeks, ending in a plan with named owners and a sequence of spend. If the plan still needs hands on it, we stay and build it.
Three sizes
How engagements are shaped.
We size the work from the problem. The call exists to find that size, which sometimes turns out to be nothing.
A scoped start
Most clients begin with a two-to-seven week review. You leave with a plan, owners, and a clear next step.
Delivery if you still need us
If the plan still needs hands on the work, we stay and implement. We size that from the problem, not from a menu.
A workshop when the room is stuck
Sometimes the issue is getting leadership and operators to agree. That's a half-day or two-day session rather than a six-week diagnostic.
Scoped reviews
The reviews, grouped by the problem they answer.
Each one has a duration and something concrete at the end. Open any of them to see what it starts with, what you receive, and what we can build afterwards.
Fix what isn't working.
Modernize →Technical Architecture Review
Program-level review of how your platform is built, where debt concentrates, and what to modernize first. Written for operators and boards, not architects performing for each other.
You leave with
A prioritized findings list, a modernization sequence, and risks an operator can act on Monday.
Cloud & DevOps Readiness Review
Cloud posture, CI/CD audit, observability gaps, and scalability recommendations. Grounded in how your team deploys today, rather than how a reference architecture says they should.
You leave with
A CI/CD maturity snapshot, observability gap list, and a sequenced fix plan your platform team can execute.
Data Health & Analytics Readiness
Data flow map, schema audit, quality scoring, and a remediation roadmap. The goal is a reporting workflow your team can run without a heroic analyst.
You leave with
A data-trust diagnosis, a sequenced platform path, and the first governed workflow worth shipping.
Security & Compliance Posture Review
Risk matrix, access and secrets review, remediation roadmap, and SOC 2 / GDPR / CCPA readiness notes. Readiness work that tells you what to fix first, not audit theater.
You leave with
A ranked exposure list, a 30/60/90 hardening plan, and named owners for the first fixes.
Integrated Transformation Diagnostic
The architecture, AI readiness, and delivery reviews run together as one engagement. Full current-state across every dimension that affects whether your next bet ships, then a phased 6–12 month roadmap with named owners and sized risks.
You leave with
A board-ready summary, named owners, sized risks, and a 6–12 month investment sequence.
Put AI and automation to work.
Automate →AI Readiness Audit
We score four things against the workflows you run: what you can do today, what you are trying to achieve, whether your teams can support it, and the habits that will either carry the change or kill it. You leave knowing which bet to fund and which to defer.
You leave with
A scored readiness snapshot, a classified automation backlog, and a 30/60/90-day roadmap with owners.
AI Solution Concept + MVP Scope
Workflow design, MVP scope, functional requirements, KPI framework, and rollout plan. The output is a build-ready package: scope, requirements and a rollout plan engineering can start on.
You leave with
Functional requirements, architecture sketch, KPI framework, and a rollout plan with human-review gates defined.
Build what you actually need.
Build →AI Solution Concept + MVP Scope
Workflow design, MVP scope, functional requirements, KPI framework, and rollout plan. The output is a build-ready package: scope, requirements and a rollout plan engineering can start on.
You leave with
Functional requirements, architecture sketch, KPI framework, and a rollout plan with human-review gates defined.
Delivery Program Setup
Project charter, milestone plan, a live log of risks and dependencies, a release checklist, and a weekly governance cadence. The unglamorous work that decides whether anything launches on time.
You leave with
A project charter, milestone plan with owners, RAID log, and a governance cadence your team can run.
Make intelligent systems reliable.
Operate →Security & Compliance Posture Review
Risk matrix, access and secrets review, remediation roadmap, and SOC 2 / GDPR / CCPA readiness notes. Readiness work that tells you what to fix first, not audit theater.
You leave with
A ranked exposure list, a 30/60/90 hardening plan, and named owners for the first fixes.
Delivery Program Setup
Project charter, milestone plan, a live log of risks and dependencies, a release checklist, and a weekly governance cadence. The unglamorous work that decides whether anything launches on time.
You leave with
A project charter, milestone plan with owners, RAID log, and a governance cadence your team can run.
Ongoing
When a review turns into standing work.
Three-month minimum, then month to month with 30 days' notice.
| Engagement | Best fit | Typical commitment |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional Head of AI / Transformation | No senior AI leader in-house. You need strategy, AI governance, vendor judgment, and something coherent to tell the board. | 30–50 hrs / month |
| Fractional TPM / Delivery Program Lead | You are shipping platform work, but delivery slips, releases hurt, and nobody owns the cadence. | 40–60 hrs / month |
| Fractional Cloud / Platform Advisor | You are mid-migration or scaling infrastructure and need someone senior on the AWS architecture calls. | 30–40 hrs / month |
| Post-Diagnostic Execution Retainer | The natural next step after any ARC review — turn the roadmap into delivered work, sprint by sprint. | Scoped to the roadmap |
| ARC Partner Retainer | One ongoing partner across strategy, delivery, and AI instead of a pile of vendors to manage. | 80+ hrs / month |
How we compare
You are probably choosing between four things.
Agencies, integrators and freelancers each solve a version of this. Here is where each one lands, so you can tell quickly whether we are the right shape for your problem.
A digital agency
- Who does the work
- A senior team pitches. A junior team delivers.
- What you get
- Campaigns, sites, and brand work.
- Afterward
- A renewal conversation, usually scoped as more campaign.
A systems integrator
- Who does the work
- A large bench, priced to stay large.
- What you get
- A platform implementation against a signed statement of work.
- Afterward
- Change requests. The bench stays.
A freelancer
- Who does the work
- One person, as available.
- What you get
- Hours against your backlog.
- Afterward
- The knowledge leaves when they do.
ARC
- Who does the work
- The senior person on your first call stays on the work.
- What you get
- A scored plan with named owners — then the system, built.
- Afterward
- Your team can run it without us. A retainer only if you want one.
Fit
Who we work best with
- Operators in 10–500 person companies, nonprofits, and teams who need a working system at the end of it.
- Leaders who want one partner across strategy, build and scale instead of six vendors to coordinate.
- Groups ready to put their data, their users and their own time behind the work.
Not a fit
When to look elsewhere
- You want a large team staffed next week to take over IT.
- You need a logo-driven RFP response more than a diagnosis.
- The problem is still “we should do AI” with no workflow, owner, or constraint.
- You want us to build whatever was already decided, without scoring it.
“Selling someone a build when they haven’t figured out the problem yet is malpractice. We won’t do it, even when the budget says we could.”
FAQ
Before the call.
If it is not here, ask it on the call. That is what the thirty minutes are for.
Tell us what's happening.
A 30-minute call is enough to tell you whether a scoped review is the right first step, and what size of engagement the problem needs.
A person reads every inquiry, usually replying within two business days.