How an engagement runs.

An initial conversation establishes what I need in order to make a proposal: the work to be done, its scope and deliverables, and the timeline you are working to, at the level of detail appropriate to this stage. A shared understanding of those is what the proposal rests on. If the work is not a fit for me, I say so here.

The conversation is welcome once a budget for the work is secured, or earlier: if the budget still has to be approved, a proposal gives you a real number for your planning cycle.

Where the work touches anything unreleased, an NDA is signed before you send it, yours or mine. Confidentiality precedes assessment.

The proposal sets out what I will do, what you will get, the timeline, and what it costs. It comes after that conversation, not before it: I do not put a number on the work until the scope is understood.

I price the work, not the hour. When procurement needs an hourly rate, and it usually does, I quote two, on the same logic the AI labs apply to their models: the frontier model that does the reasoning is priced several times higher than the smaller model that executes well. The higher rate covers research, strategy, architecture, concepts, and design. The lower one covers the execution around them, such as building out prototypes and attending meetings. The estimate shows the hours at each rate, so the split is visible before you sign.

The proposal becomes a statement of work, referenced from your company's standard contract. The contract sets out what transfers to you and when, the rates, and the invoicing and payment terms. Nothing billable starts before signature.

Scope moves, and when it does the change is written up as a change order: what is added or removed, and what that does to the timeline and the cost, agreed before the work shifts. Nothing is absorbed quietly, and nothing is billed by surprise.

One of two shapes. A scoped project: agreed deliverables, a timeline, and a fixed or capped budget. Or a fractional retainer: a set amount of my time each month, for ongoing senior advisory as the product and the organization evolve.

The contract carries the high-level milestones agreed in negotiation. Once it is signed, I turn them into a detailed execution plan: the activities, deliverables, and dates behind each milestone. The work runs against that plan, and so does any change to it.

Whatever the shape, the standard is the same: work grounded in evidence from the people it is for, held to WCAG, and documented so it stands up to review.

The engagement is staffed by me. The advisor you retain is the one who does the work: research, strategy, design, and governance are not handed off to junior staff or subcontracted to cheaper hands. When the work needs skills or hours I do not have, you hire them and I help you choose. For a bounded piece, occasionally one specialist I trust, named and priced before they start. I do not assemble teams on your behalf.

A project closes with the handover the contract set out: the deliverables, the findings, and the reasoning behind them, in a form your team can carry forward. A retainer ends whenever it stops serving you. You keep me because the work earns it, not because a contract requires it.