Five engagement shapes around one operating reality.
Decision Matrix
Which engagement fits?
Six questions that sort which engagement model is right. None of the five is "better" — they're different shapes for different operating realities.
01
You're building a new system end-to-end.
You have scope, budget, and an internal owner who will take it on at year three. You care more about what happens after launch than what happens at launch.
You're moving off a legacy ERP, doing a major version upgrade, or replatforming.
The decision isn't just how do we move — it's what's worth moving. Years of customisations, integrations, and workarounds need a verdict before they migrate.
An implementation has gone sideways with another vendor.
The previous team has gone quiet. Operations are running on workarounds. Internally somebody is pitching "rebuild from scratch." You want a calm path forward, not a sales rebuild.
Sometimes the right answer is "talk first." Engagement shape is part of the conversation; we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit before scoping anything.
Each model has its own page with the full thesis, what's included, and how the engagement is timed. Skim here; deep-dive there.
01
Implementation
"The build is rarely where implementations fail. The handoff is."
End-to-end delivery of a new system — discovery, architecture, phased build, stabilisation, knowledge transfer. The deliverable is confident internal ownership, not just a launch.
For: COO, CTO, Head of Programme
Length: 12 to 36 weeks build + 6 to 12 weeks stabilisation + 4 weeks handoff
Most common with: ERP, AI, Cloud, Custom Applications
"Production rarely fails at launch. It drifts between releases."
Ongoing operating discipline for a production system — quarterly health reviews, version-upgrade routine, optimisation cadence, audit-posture maintenance. Not break-fix; the discipline that prevents the tickets from becoming a way of life.
"Migration rarely breaks on the move. It breaks on the decisions you bring with you."
Decision audit first, technical move second. Inventory of customisations, integrations, workarounds, and reports — each tagged carry, refactor, retire, or replace — before any data moves. Phased cutover with parallel running where practical.
For: CTO, Head of Platform, COO
Length: 5 to 12 months end-to-end depending on scope
Most common with: Legacy ERP replacement, Odoo version upgrades, on-prem to cloud
"Capacity is rarely the constraint. Coherence is."
Engineering capacity that integrates with your team rather than against it. Structured onboarding, shared backlog, shared code review, retention designed in. Optimises for outcomes, not billable hours.
For: CTO, VP Engineering, Head of Product
Length: 12-month minimum, typically renews
Most common with: Ongoing product work, scaling engineering capacity
"Failed implementations rarely need to be rebuilt. They need to be stabilised first."
Forensic audit, triage, stabilisation. Decision-support assessment at end of stabilisation — keep, refactor, retire, or rebuild — costed, in writing. The rebuild-or-keep call is yours, made calmly, on evidence.
For: COO, CTO, CFO of a project in trouble
Length: 12 to 16 weeks (2-week audit, 2-week triage, 6 to 10-week stabilisation)
Most common after: Vendor failure, version-upgrade catastrophe, unmaintainable inheritance
When stabilisation closes, some clients take internal ownership; others want the operating discipline to continue. Long-Term Support is the engagement that does that.
When the audit recommends replatforming rather than refactor, the rescue stabilises the source enough to migrate from it safely. The rebuild conversation happens after, on evidence.
When a system is healthy but the business needs ongoing engineering capacity to build on top of it, a dedicated team layered alongside the support engagement is a common shape.
Engagement Discipline
What These Engagements Will Not Do
Four boundaries we hold across all five engagement types.
No fixed-template pitch.
Engagement shape is decided by what the operation actually needs, not by what fits a vendor's preferred contract. If the first call ends with us recommending a different shape from the one you came in asking for, that's the engagement working.
No forced follow-on.
A System Rescue audit does not bundle into a forced rebuild quote. An Implementation does not bundle into a forced Long-Term Support contract. Follow-on engagements are quoted separately and are your free choice.
No sales pitch in the first call.
Architecture-first conversation. We'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit before scoping anything.
No criticising the previous vendor.
Specifically for System Rescue engagements: we don't trash whoever came before, in writing or in conversation. The work is the work.
