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Methodology

How we run engagements

A newly formed company cannot ask to be trusted on reputation. What it can do is publish exactly how it works, and be held to it.

Principle

Show the method, not the marketing.

Industrial advisory is bought largely on trust, and trust is usually established through track record. A company at the start of its life does not have one to point at, and inventing proxies for it — vague claims, borrowed credentials, unverifiable numbers — damages exactly the thing it is meant to build.

So we do the opposite. We publish the methodology: the gates, the deliverable standards, the reporting cadence and the terms on which we work. A prospective client can read how we would run their engagement before committing to it, and can hold us to that description afterwards.

It is also a filter. Clients who want a consultant to validate a decision already made generally do not want a stage-gate process with a documented no-go option, and that is a mismatch better discovered before an engagement than during one.

Project schedule and progress documents on a site office wall

Stage-gate model

Six gates, each with an exit criterion

No gate opens until the previous one has produced its deliverable and you have accepted it. This is what prevents an engagement drifting into activity without decisions.

  1. 1

    Gate 0 — Scoping

    3–7 days

    Before any work begins we agree what decision the engagement serves, what evidence would settle it, and what is explicitly out of scope. Most disputed engagements were scoped loosely at the start.

    Deliverable: Scope note, evidence plan and commercial terms

  2. 2

    Gate 1 — Assessment

    2–6 weeks

    Structured assessment against the agreed scope, based on primary data — plant visits, site inspection, authority enquiry and actual operating records rather than reported summaries.

    Deliverable: Findings report with issue register

  3. 3

    Gate 2 — Recommendation

    1–2 weeks

    A recommendation with the conditions attached to it, and an honest statement of what we do not know. A go decision that omits its own preconditions is not usable.

    Deliverable: Recommendation with go / no-go conditions

  4. 4

    Gate 3 — Execution planning

    2–4 weeks

    Baseline schedule, cost plan, approval matrix and the measurement rules that will govern reporting for the rest of the engagement. Fixed before work starts, not negotiated during it.

    Deliverable: Baseline plan and project execution manual

  5. 5

    Gate 4 — Delivery

    Engagement duration

    Execution against the baseline, with physical progress measurement, cost control against sanction, quality against specification and a fixed reporting cadence.

    Deliverable: Periodic progress, cost and quality reports

  6. 6

    Gate 5 — Handover

    2–4 weeks

    Documentation, trained team, compliance register and renewal calendar. An engagement is closed when your team can run without us, not when our scope is technically complete.

    Deliverable: Handover pack and close-out report

Deliverable standards

What every deliverable must contain

  • The assumptions it rests on, stated explicitly and separately from the findings
  • The sources — who was consulted, what was inspected, what was taken on trust
  • What we could not establish, and what it would take to establish it
  • A recommendation with its preconditions, not a recommendation alone
  • Sensitivity on the variables that actually move the outcome
  • A named author who will answer questions on it

Governance

How engagements are run

  • A single named engagement lead accountable to you throughout
  • Fixed reporting cadence agreed at Gate 0 and not varied without notice
  • Physical progress measurement, never percentage of value billed
  • Escalation path defined before it is needed
  • NDA as standard, with written confirmation of no competing mandate
  • Change requests documented and priced before work proceeds

Working together

How the capabilities interlock on one project

Advisory informs execution

The team that writes the feasibility assumptions is the team that will be held to them during delivery. That changes how carefully those assumptions are written.

Approvals sit inside the schedule

Clearances are scheduled activities in the construction programme with owners and dates, not a parallel process running on hope.

Incentives shape the design

Eligibility often depends on project configuration and sequencing, so it is assessed while configuration can still change — at DPR stage, not after commissioning.

A note on regulated services

Services reserved to a licensed profession — statutory audit, legal opinion, title certification, chartered engineering certification and similar — are rendered only through appropriately qualified and licensed professionals. Where your matter requires one, we will say so plainly and coordinate with them rather than work around the requirement.

Ask us how we would run your engagement.

We will describe the gates, the deliverables and the commercial terms before you commit to anything.

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