How we work
A method you
can assess.
Consulting should leave a client with practical tools, clearer accountability and improved delivery capacity, not only advice. A firm that delivers findings and departs creates dependency. A firm that installs a governance routine your own staff can operate leaves you measurably more capable.
Everything below scales down with the engagement. What does not scale down is the discipline.
Engagement framework
01 / 04
Five steps, identical across every service line.
01
Discovery
A structured conversation about the project, the delivery problem, the business objective, the timeline, your internal resources and your existing vendors.
We confirm there is a defined delivery problem we can solve, or we tell you there isn't and decline.
02
Scope and proposal
A written scope setting out objectives, deliverables, responsibilities, estimated hours, pricing, assumptions, exclusions, milestones and acceptance criteria.
You understand exactly what you are buying, and exactly what remains your own responsibility.
03
Agreement and kickoff
You sign a Statement of Work. We confirm the sponsor, the stakeholders, the working cadence and the first milestones.
Work starts with ownership, authority and expectations already established.
04
Delivery and reporting
We operate a charter, project plan, RAID log, decision log, status report and action tracker, proportionate to the assignment rather than to a methodology.
Deadlines, risks, decisions and responsibilities are visible and actively managed rather than assumed.
05
Review and handover
Deliverables reviewed against the acceptance criteria agreed at scoping. Final documentation, templates and a recommended next-step plan provided.
You keep usable tools and can continue the work after the engagement ends. Handover is a contractual deliverable, not a courtesy.
No work begins without a signed commercial document.
We do not reserve delivery capacity, commence work, or recognise revenue on the basis of a verbal agreement, an email confirmation or expressed intent. It protects both parties.
Handover is a defined step, not an afterthought.
Final documentation, templates and a next-step plan are contractual deliverables. The value transferred is your own capability to run projects, not a dependency on us.
Delivery framework
02 / 04
The same five stages run under every engagement.
Scaled to the size and risk of the work. A three-week health check does not need the governance apparatus of a nine-month implementation.
01
Initiation
Charter agreed, sponsor confirmed, stakeholders mapped, governance and decision authority established, reporting cadence set, initial risks registered, acceptance criteria defined.
02
Planning
Work broken down, owners assigned individually rather than to groups, dependencies identified, schedule built, assumptions recorded, change-control procedure agreed.
03
Execution
Delivery against plan, RAID log actively maintained, decisions recorded with rationale, actions tracked to closure, vendor coordination, regular status reporting.
04
Monitoring and control
Progress measured against baseline, variance explained rather than absorbed, risks reassessed, change requests assessed and priced, escalation used when thresholds are crossed.
05
Closure
Deliverables reviewed against acceptance criteria, documentation handed over, knowledge-transfer session held, lessons recorded, commercial closeout completed, account review conducted.
Every engagement, whatever its size, has a written scope, a named owner, recorded decisions and defined acceptance criteria. Their absence is the most common finding in the health checks we run.
Operating detail
03 / 04
The parts of an engagement that usually go unstated.
Most disputes in professional services come from things nobody wrote down at the start. These are ours, written down at the start.
Onboarding, in the first week
Kickoff with the sponsor and key stakeholders. Charter reviewed and confirmed. Access to systems and documents arranged. Communication channels and cadence agreed. First reporting date set. Initial risk review conducted. And your own responsibilities confirmed in writing: who provides what information, and how quickly decisions will be turned around. That last item is frequently omitted and frequently the cause of later dispute.
Reporting
Status reports are issued at the agreed cadence and state overall status honestly, including when the status is red. This is a commercial position as much as an ethical one: clients engage us precisely because they are not getting accurate visibility. Discovering a project was in difficulty for weeks before the report said so ends the relationship.
Acceptance
Each deliverable carries acceptance criteria agreed at scoping. On submission you have a defined review period, and acceptance is recorded in writing. Where a deliverable is not accepted, the reason is documented and the remedy agreed. Deemed-acceptance terms apply where there is no response inside the review period, which protects both parties from engagements that cannot be closed.
Change control
Any request that alters agreed scope, deliverables, timeline or effort is recorded, assessed for effort and schedule impact, priced, and submitted for written approval before work begins on it. Approved changes update the baseline; declined changes are recorded with the decision. A client who is told what a request costs can decide whether they want it. A client whose requests are quietly absorbed learns nothing about what their decisions cost.
Escalation
Every engagement has a defined escalation path and defined thresholds: schedule slippage beyond tolerance, a risk materialising above an agreed impact level, a decision outstanding beyond an agreed period, a dependency not delivered. Crossing a threshold triggers escalation rather than a judgement call about whether the matter is serious enough to raise. That removes the hardest part of escalating and makes it a process you agreed to rather than a complaint.
Confidentiality and data handling
Every engagement document carries mutual confidentiality terms, and your information is used only for the purposes of the engagement. Client identities are never used in marketing without written permission. Systems use individual accounts with multi-factor authentication, access is limited to people working on the engagement and removed at closeout, devices are encrypted, and material is not held on removable media or sent through personal accounts. Confidential information is not entered into external AI tools unless the engagement terms and the tool's terms permit it, and your consent is obtained before any AI-assisted meeting summarisation.
Standards that do not vary
04 / 04
Five things that don't flex.
Not with engagement size, and not with schedule pressure. Everything else in the method is proportionate; these are not.
- 01Every engagement has a written scope with acceptance criteria.
- 02Every engagement has a named owner.
- 03Decisions are recorded with their rationale.
- 04Status is reported honestly, including when it is red.
- 05Deliverables are checked against acceptance criteria before issue.
Insurance and administration
Professional liability, errors and omissions, and commercial general liability cover are placed before client delivery begins. External bookkeeping is engaged from launch and corporate returns are prepared by a qualified Canadian accountant. A consultancy advising on projects with real financial consequences should carry cover regardless of whether it is asked for.