Service 01 of 04
Architecture and design authority
When a change to a system your business depends on is too consequential to get wrong, we work out what is really there, design the change, and get the people who decide to agree it in writing. You can buy the design on its own, as a solution pack, or retain us as design authority while the change goes in.
Who it is for
- A BA and a sponsor with a change coming. An ERP extension, a new warehouse or order flow, an integration between two businesses that have merged, or a bespoke system being asked to do something it was never built for.
- A programme with several suppliers and no one owning the design. Each supplier designs its own part well, and nobody is checking that the parts fit.
- A sponsor who has to defend a number to a board and needs options with costs and risks written down, not a single recommendation made in a meeting.
What you get
Solution pack (form A), the written output of understand, design and align:
- discovery notes: the current system, its data and interfaces, the constraints, and who owns what
- a current-state flowchart and a target-state flowchart
- wireframes for every screen or document that changes
- two or three options, each with its trade-offs, cost, risk, reversibility and what it needs from you
- a decision note, written for your sponsor to sign
- a delivery plan: sequence, milestones, who does which part, and what can go wrong, with what is done about each risk
Design-authority retainer (form B), for the life of one change:
- a stated number of days a month
- written decisions within a stated number of working days of a request
- review of supplier designs and deliverables against the agreed architecture
- the decisions log, kept current and owned by you
- attendance at your design board or equivalent, remotely unless the statement of work says otherwise
What you don't get
- Verbal-only decisions. Every decision is written down.
- A seat filled with no defined outcome, or open-ended "architecture support".
- Building, inside the retainer. Retainer days are for decisions and review. Building is a separate, priced piece of work (see /integration-and-automation/ and /bespoke-systems-and-platforms/).
- A new ERP or WMS selection sold as part of the design. If the right answer is to replace a system, the decision note says so and that becomes its own piece of work.
How it runs
| Milestone | Deliverable | Accepted when |
|---|---|---|
| M1 Understand | DeliverableDiscovery notes; current-state flowcharts | Accepted whenYour BA confirms they describe today's system and process |
| M2 Design | DeliverableTarget-state flowcharts; wireframes; options with trade-offs and cost | Accepted whenDelivered in full against the statement of work |
| M3 Decide | DeliverableDecision note | Accepted whenSigned by your sponsor |
| M4 Plan | DeliverableDelivery plan and handover notes | Accepted whenAccepted by your sponsor, or delivery moves to a delivery-of-the-whole statement of work |
The first week is described in full on /how-we-work/. A complete worked example of a solution pack, for an invented business, is at /worked-example/.
What we need from you
- A sponsor who can decide: one named person who signs the decision and owns the budget.
- A BA or process owner as the day-to-day contact, who knows how the work is really done.
- The documents that exist, however out of date.
- Read access, narrowly and in writing, to what the work needs.
- Short sessions with the people who run and support the system.
What can go wrong
| What can go wrong | What we do about it |
|---|---|
| Nobody can say what "done" looks like | What we do about itFinding it is the first task. If it cannot be written in one sentence in week one, the week-one note says so and names who has to decide. |
| The current system is undocumented | What we do about itDiscovery reads the system as it runs: data, interfaces and the people who keep it going. Gaps are written down as gaps and priced, not guessed. |
| A key person is unavailable during design | What we do about itThe plan routes around them. Decisions that can wait are batched; anything that cannot is taken before they go. |
| People disagree about the option | What we do about itDisagreements are written up as options with their costs, and the sponsor decides. Not settled by whoever is loudest in the meeting. |
| The scope grows once people see the design | What we do about itEvery change is written up with its effect on price and dates before any work on it starts. You choose to defer it or have it priced. |
Price
| Form | Pricing basis | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Solution pack | Pricing basisFixed price set from the scope after a first conversation. A share on signature, the rest on milestone acceptance. | Pricefrom £6,000 |
| Design-authority retainer | Pricing basisMonthly fee for the stated days and service level, for the life of the change, with a minimum term and notice period | Pricefrom £6,000 a month |
Prices exclude VAT. Terms: /engagements/.
Why the price is what it is: AI agents I direct draft the flowcharts, wireframes and documents, and research the options, under my review, so your fee pays mostly for senior judgement rather than drafting hours. How it works, and what the agents never touch: /how-we-work/.
The conversation's free. The written design is the solution pack.
Every engagement is architected by me, and I'm the person you deal with.
We take on a small number of clients at a time.