How engagements work
The path from first enquiry to kickoff — scoping, proposal, and agreement.
Most engagements follow the same simple path. There are no surprises buried in the process, and you'll always know what the next step is.
1. Enquiry
It starts with a conversation. You tell us what you're trying to achieve — a network rollout, a security review, a custom application, or just "our IT keeps breaking and we need a partner." You can send us the details and a real engineer (not a sales script) will follow up.
At this stage we're listening, not pitching. The goal is to understand the problem well enough to know whether we're the right fit.
2. Discovery and scoping
If it looks like a fit, we dig into the specifics:
- Current state — what you have today, what's working, and what isn't.
- Constraints — budget range, timeline, compliance needs, and any hard deadlines.
- Success criteria — what "done and working" actually looks like for you.
For infrastructure work this may include a short audit or site visit. For software it usually means a few working sessions to pin down requirements.
3. Proposal
You receive a written proposal with:
- A clear scope — what's included and, just as importantly, what isn't.
- A timeline broken into milestones.
- Pricing and the engagement model (project, retainer, or subscription).
- Any assumptions the estimate depends on.
We'd rather spend extra time here making the scope precise than discover a mismatch halfway through delivery.
4. Agreement and kickoff
Once the proposal is approved, we schedule a kickoff. Before that meeting we'll send a short list of what to prepare — see What to prepare.
From kickoff onward, delivery runs against the milestones in the proposal, with regular check-ins so progress is always visible.
Transparent scope up front is the single biggest predictor of a project that finishes on time and on budget.
A note on engagement models
Not every relationship is a fixed project. We work three ways — a defined project, an ongoing managed retainer, or a subscription for software we operate on your behalf. We'll recommend whichever fits the work; you can read more on the services page.