Four engagement shapes

Place the work before pricing the work.

The shape depends on the operating problem, connected systems, approved material, review requirements, and team involved. The typical-fit guidance is directional, not a hard eligibility rule.

Typical fit

Start with the shape that resembles the operating need.

Discovery validates the fit and defines the actual scope before build work is committed.

Engagement shape

Focused workflow

One bounded operating problem, shaped around the approved material, systems, review rules, and team roles that workflow depends on.

Typical fit: An operating business under roughly 40 people with one process consuming disproportionate time.

Engagement shape

Connected workflows

Two or three connected processes, with integration into the systems the team already uses and deeper preparation of source material.

Typical fit: An operating business of roughly 40–100 people with a defined operations owner.

Engagement shape

Department-wide

Several workflows, multiple integrations, governance and access decisions, and enablement across a whole team.

Typical fit: An operating business of roughly 100–250 people with approval or governance requirements that need to be designed in.

Engagement shape

Multi-department program

A phased program that treats client-specific AI as shared operating infrastructure across more than one function.

Typical fit: An upper-mid-market business coordinating adoption, review, and governance across functions.

What drives scope

Four variables turn a shape into a real engagement.

A public number would ignore the work that most directly affects delivery.

Workflows: How many bounded processes are in scope, how they connect, and which requests remain outside the catalogue.
Integrations: Which files, inboxes, templates, cloud services, and business systems the implementation must work with.
Material preparation: How much approved source material needs organizing, cleaning, permissioning, or testing before use.
Review and governance: Which outputs require approval, who owns escalation, what access rules apply, and how acceptance will be evaluated.

Paid discovery

Every build is scoped after discovery.

Discovery is a short paid engagement that produces a written scope, a fixed build price, and a schedule. The client keeps the scope whether or not the build proceeds, and the discovery fee is credited if it does.

Commercial direction

How the commitment works.

Build

The build is a fixed-scope, fixed-price engagement agreed before build work starts.

Operating service

The post-build operating service is offered month-to-month with 30 days’ notice. An annual option is available at a discount. Exact service levels, responsibilities, and exclusions are defined in the signed agreement.

Cloud and third-party costs

In the default client-cloud path, the client pays its cloud provider directly. Expected cloud, third-party service, and approved external-model costs are identified during discovery and documented before the build is committed. Any optional hosted path is separately scoped.

Tell us what you want AI to run.

Answer a short intake and get a project brief PDF right away. Send it to us, and our team returns a reviewed build plan before we ever talk price.

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