§ METHODPROCEDURE DOCUMENT
How difficult projects become working systems.
Most digital projects don't fail at code — they fail in the seams between intent, design and engineering. Our method exists to make those seams explicit. Six phases, each with a deliverable you can read and an exit criterion you can verify.
P1 · 1–2 weeks
Recon
Understand the terrain before drawing the map.
PHASE 01 / 06
We interrogate the problem: who uses the system, what breaks today, what must be true at launch. We read the spreadsheets, ride along with the operators, and separate symptoms from causes.
DELIVERABLE
Opportunity brief + constraints register
EXIT WHEN
We can state the problem in one sentence — and you agree with it.
P2 · 1–3 weeks
Specification
Turn intent into a model.
PHASE 02 / 06
Journeys, domain model, scope decisions and success metrics. Trade-offs are recorded honestly — including what we are deliberately not building. The spec is the contract between your intent and our engineering.
DELIVERABLE
Product & system specification
EXIT WHEN
Scope signed. Unknowns listed, each with an owner and a deadline.
P3 · 1–3 weeks
Systems design
Architecture and experience, designed as one.
PHASE 03 / 06
Data model, API contracts, interface system, integration map and security model — designed together, because they fail together. You click a prototype before we write the plumbing.
DELIVERABLE
Architecture document + clickable prototype
EXIT WHEN
Every screen and every service has a place on the map.
P4 · 2–12 weeks
Fabrication
Build in verifiable increments.
PHASE 04 / 06
A shipping cadence you can hold us to: working software on a staging URL every week, tests as first-class citizens, demos instead of reports. Scope changes are negotiated openly, never smuggled.
DELIVERABLE
Working software, increment by increment
EXIT WHEN
Feature-complete against the specification — provably.
P5 · 1–2 weeks
Commissioning
Launch is a procedure, not a leap.
PHASE 05 / 06
Migration rehearsals, load and failure drills, monitoring, rollback plans, and handover training for the people who will live with the system. Nobody cuts a ribbon on a system they can't operate.
DELIVERABLE
Production system + runbook + trained team
EXIT WHEN
Your team operates it confidently without us in the room.
P6 · Ongoing
Evolution
Systems earn their keep after launch.
PHASE 06 / 06
Instrumented metrics, iteration cycles, extension roadmap and maintenance windows. The launch is where the value starts compounding — or decaying. We stay for the compounding.
DELIVERABLE
Evolution roadmap + quarterly reviews
EXIT WHEN
None. This is the relationship layer.
What we ask of you
- One decision-maker with authority to sign off scope
- Access to the people who live with the problem — not just its sponsors
- Honest constraints: real budget ceilings, real deadlines, real politics
- Two hours a week for reviews while a phase is active
What you can hold us to
- A staging URL you can click from week two of fabrication
- Weekly demos of running software — never slideware
- Scope changes priced and signed before they're built
- Every phase ends at its published exit criterion, or we keep working at no extra cost
APPENDIX A — THE SIX LAYERS WE WORK IN
L1
Interface
Every surface a human touches.
L2
Experience
The path a user actually takes.
L3
Core system
The logic that makes it a product.
L4
Data
The record that outlives the interface.
L5
Integrations
The seams to everything else.
L6
Intelligence
The loop that makes it smarter.
The interactive decomposition lives on the home sheet.
Procedure read. Your move.
If this way of working makes sense to you, we will get along.