Forward-Deployed Engineering
One senior engineer sits with the people who do the work, tests which access is real and reads a sample of your records. The sprint ends with a one-page scope you can put in front of a board or another vendor.
TermsScope, timing, staffing and commercial terms are agreed per engagement, in writing.
Fit
TermsScope, timing, staffing and commercial terms are agreed per engagement, in writing.
Day by day
Two weeks of working days. Each bar ends in something written; the diamonds are the days on which something is decided.
The workflow map: every step, system, hand-off and exception, written with the people who do the work
An access register: what was requested on day one, what was granted, and how long each took
A read of real records: the fields that are always wrong, the volumes, the cases that would form a golden set
The one-page scope in draft: workflow, metric, owner, exit gate, price
The scope signed by the owner of the outcome, or a written reason it does not fit
Access is requested on day one. How long it takes to arrive is itself a finding, and it goes in the scope.
What you keep
Six documents, yours whether or not a build follows. Each is written to be read by someone who was not in the room.
SCOPE PACK
The workflow, the metric that will judge it, the owner, the exit gate and the fixed price, on one page.
Every step, system, hand-off and exception as it happens today, written with the people who do the work.
How the system will be judged, how that is measured today, and the cases that will form the golden set.
Which systems a build needs, what access was granted in the two weeks and how long each took to arrive.
The other workflows considered, and the reason each was set aside, so the choice can be revisited.
Whether a build should follow, in writing. If the answer is no, the reason is written down too.
TermsScope, timing, staffing and commercial terms are agreed per engagement, in writing.
How scoping is run
They keep two weeks from turning into a strategy engagement. Each is there because its absence has cost someone a quarter.
Several may be examined. One is chosen, and the rest are written down with the reason they were not. A roadmap of six is not a scope.
The workflow map is written with the people who run the process today. The steering group is interviewed after, so the map describes what happens rather than what is meant to.
The engineer requests real access on day one and records what arrives. A scope that assumes access that has not been granted is a scope that will slip.
The sprint can end with a written no: the workflow is not ready, the metric cannot be measured or the access cannot be granted. That is a cheaper finding on day ten than in week six.
Specified
The terms as they stand before the first call.
TermsScope, timing, staffing and commercial terms are agreed per engagement, in writing.
Questions
Both, in one document. The first week reads your systems, your access and a sample of your records; the second turns that into a decision about one workflow. The output is a scope a build can start from, not a report on readiness in general.
The owner of the outcome on your side, with the engineer's recommendation in writing. The recommendation rests on what was found: which workflow matters, can be measured and can be given real access quickly.
No. The scope pack is written so that another team can build from it. If you take it elsewhere, it still holds: the workflow, the metric and the access register do not change with the builder.
The scope says so, with the reason: the metric cannot be measured, the access cannot be granted, or the process changes too often to automate. You pay for the two weeks, and you have avoided a build that would not have shipped.
The build that follows: the Production Sprint against the signed scope, with its exit gate written in. It is agreed before the build starts, and there is no invoice for a gate that was not met.
No. The interviews take a week to arrange and hold, and access requests need the second week to show whether they arrive. A shorter sprint would report on promises rather than findings.
TermsScope, timing, staffing and commercial terms are agreed per engagement, in writing.
Forward-Deployed Engineering
Start
Book a scoping call; you leave it knowing whether the two weeks are worth running.