How I Work
Four formats, one arc
Four ways to work together, from a half-hour call to an embedded engagement. They differ in how much of the work I do versus how much your team does — not in how seriously the problem gets taken.
Diagnostic call
30 minutes, freeYou have a symptom and want to know what is actually causing it.
Bring the decisions that keep coming back, the pilots that have not landed, or the delivery that slipped. Thirty minutes is usually enough to say whether the cause is where you think it is, and which of the formats below fits — including none of them.
You leave with: A named cause and a recommendation, whether or not it involves me.
Schedule a call →Facilitated session
One to two daysThe decision needs the room, not more analysis.
On site or remote. Run against your own architecture, your own org chart, your own pilot portfolio — never a case study. The people who have to own the outcome are in the room, and the session ends with the thing written down rather than a promise to write it up.
You leave with: A concrete artefact — a decision rights matrix, a team topology map, an AI operating model, a domain map. Each session page names its own.
Browse the sessions →Programme
Half a day to two days per moduleThe capability has to survive after I leave.
Take one module, take a track, or sequence a core arc over a quarter. A session settles a decision; a programme builds the judgement to keep making that kind of decision. The catalogue is grouped by practice — architecture, AI strategy, leadership — and every module is visible before you commit to any of it.
You leave with: A team that can run the practice without a facilitator in the room.
See the programmes →Embedded leadership
1-3 days a week, 3-12 monthsThe decisions need someone accountable inside the organisation.
Fractional CTO, VP Engineering or Chief Architect. I make decisions, attend the standups, and own outcomes rather than handing over recommendations. The aim is to make the role unnecessary — distributing decision rights is part of the work, not an afterthought.
You leave with: Technology strategy, architecture governance, team development and board reporting — plus a decision structure that holds once the engagement ends.
How embedded work runs →The shape of an engagement
Audit, design, embed
Longer engagements run the same three phases, whatever the pillar. It is visible in all three case studies, and the proportions rarely change much: a short audit, a longer design, and an embedding phase at least as long as the design.
- 01
Audit
Roughly the first fifth
Map what is actually happening — the decisions made and stuck, the pilots running, the boundaries as they are rather than as drawn. Interviews across the functions involved, not just engineering.
- 02
Design
The middle
Build the framework against your constraints: decision rights, governance model, operating model, whatever the audit says the gap is. Designed with the people who will run it, so it is not handed to them.
- 03
Embed and transfer
The rest, and never the smallest phase
Run the framework on live work while I am still there, then hand it over. An engagement that ends at the design phase leaves a document; this is the part that decides whether anything changed.
The case studies show these phases with real week counts.
Who owns what
The split, stated up front
The commonest reason an engagement disappoints is an unstated split of who does what. This is mine.
I own
- Naming the actual constraint, including when it is not the one you engaged me for
- Designing the framework and facilitating the sessions where it gets decided
- Making the call, and being accountable for it, on embedded engagements
- Knowing where HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, the EU AI Act and ISO 27001 actually bind the design, not just being able to name them
- Saying when a piece of work is not worth doing
You own
- Access to the people who hold the context, not only the people who own the budget
- A decision-maker in the room when a decision is on the table
- The follow-through between sessions — the work does not happen on the workshop days
- Telling me when something is not landing, early enough to change it
Cost
Pricing depends on format, duration and how much of the delivery sits with me. It is settled on the diagnostic call, before any proposal — there is no discovery process to get through first.
Common questions
Before you book
- How does an engagement start?
- With a free 30-minute diagnostic call. The goal is to name the actual constraint and say which format fits — including saying when none of them does.
- What formats are available?
- A 30-minute diagnostic call, one to two day facilitated sessions, programme modules from half a day to two days, and embedded fractional leadership at one to three days a week over three to twelve months.
- What does a longer engagement look like?
- Three phases: a short audit of what is actually happening, a longer design phase building the framework against your constraints, and an embedding phase — never the smallest — running it on live work before handing it over.
- What do you need from us?
- Access to the people who hold the context rather than only the budget, a decision-maker in the room when a decision is on the table, and follow-through between sessions.
- What does it cost?
- Pricing depends on format, duration and how much of the delivery sits with me, and is settled on the diagnostic call before any proposal.
Next Step
Start with the call
Thirty minutes, no slide deck. Bring the problem as you would describe it to a colleague, and we will work out what is actually causing it and whether any of this fits.