Product How It Works Services Work Blog About Contact

Engineering discipline for business change

We don't just build systems—we build the operating model that makes change traceable, predictable, and sustainable. Every decision documented. Every outcome measurable.

Processes → Systems → Data

Most organizations work backwards—starting with system changes and hoping the process follows. We flip that model. Business change flows through a pipeline: first understand the process, then modify systems, then account for data.

Processes

Map the workflow first

Systems

Technology follows process

Data

Insights emerge naturally

01 Process-First Thinking

Before touching a single system, we map the business process. Who does what? What triggers each step? Where are the handoffs? This prevents building the wrong thing efficiently.

02 Systems Follow Workflow

Only after the process is clear do we design system changes. This ensures technology serves the business—not the other way around. No more forcing teams to adapt to bad system design.

03 Data as an Outcome

When processes and systems are aligned, clean data is a natural byproduct. No more reconciliation nightmares. No more "where did this number come from?" conversations.

Four stages of traceable delivery

One front door for business change. From intake to production, every step is documented, every decision is traceable, and every outcome is measurable.

Stage 01 / Intake

Problem Brief

Every request enters through a single front door—the Problem Brief. It's an AI-guided discovery document that captures the business outcome, process impact, system scope, and success metrics before any work begins.

  • AI-assisted discovery guides stakeholders through structured intake
  • Outcome-focused framing ensures business value is clear upfront
  • 30-minute intake replaces hours of back-and-forth discovery
Stage 02 / Decision

Architecture Decision Records

Every significant decision is documented in an ADR. Context, options considered, the decision, and rationale—all captured. Six months later, anyone can understand why we built what we built.

  • Full context capture so decisions make sense months later
  • Cross-system review ensures changes don't break other things
  • Security & data model impact assessed before implementation
Architecture Decision Record
ADR-042: Customer Journey Tracking

CS team needs visibility into customer health signals across touchpoints...

Data warehouse with reverse sync to Salesforce

Single source of truth • Flexibility for product data • Scalable

Stage 03 / Delivery

Linked Execution

Every Jira epic links back to its ADR. Every ADR links back to its Problem Brief. There's no mystery about why we're building something or what problem it solves. Automated testing catches issues before UAT.

  • Bidirectional traceability from business need to deployed code
  • Predictable release cadence with defined quality gates
  • Automated testing catches regressions before production
PROJ-2024 Sprint Board
PROJ-142 • Epic

Customer Health Dashboard

PROJ-143 • Story

Build reverse sync pipeline

PROJ-144 • Task

Configure Salesforce fields

Stage 04 / Control

Change Governance

Mid-flight scope changes happen. We don't pretend they won't. But they go through a lightweight Change Request process. Deviations from the original plan are explicit, logged, and accounted for.

  • Explicit scope changes prevent scope creep from derailing projects
  • Tech debt tracking so you know what you're trading off
  • Full audit trail for compliance and learning
Change Request

Add NPS score to health dashboard

+3 days • New data source integration

Pending Review

What makes our approach different

These aren't just values on a wall. They're operational principles that shape every engagement.

Principle 01

Process before systems

We map the business process before touching any system. This ensures technology serves the business—not the other way around. It prevents the all-too-common mistake of building the wrong thing efficiently.

Eliminates misaligned implementations
Principle 02

Decisions are documented

Every significant architecture decision is captured in an ADR. Six months from now, when someone asks "why did we build it this way?"—there's an answer. No tribal knowledge. No guessing.

100% decision traceability
Principle 03

Production-ready or nothing

Everything we build has monitoring, testing, and runbooks. We don't hand off prototypes. We hand off systems your team can operate, debug, and extend without calling us.

Zero "it worked on my machine" moments
Principle 04

Transfer knowledge, not dependency

We document everything. We train your team. We hand off. Our goal is to make ourselves unnecessary—not to create a dependency that keeps you paying us forever.

Your team owns and operates it

Traditional consulting vs. our approach

We're not just consultants who advise. We're engineers who ship production systems.

Traditional Consulting
Customer City Approach
Deliverables

PowerPoint decks and recommendations

Working code in production

Decision tracking

Tribal knowledge and meeting notes

Formal ADRs with full context

Process documentation

Optional or outdated diagrams

As-Is/To-Be maps before implementation

Testing

Manual QA at the end

Automated CI/CD with quality gates

Handoff

"Call us if you have questions"

Runbooks, training, and documentation

What this approach delivers

These aren't hypothetical benefits. They're measured outcomes from real engagements.

60%

Faster Intake

AI-guided discovery replaces weeks of back-and-forth

100%

Decision Traceability

Every architecture choice documented in ADRs

3x

Fewer Rework Cycles

Process-first approach catches misalignment early

0

Tribal Knowledge

Everything documented for your team to own

Artifacts that make it real

Our approach isn't abstract. It's implemented through concrete tools and templates.

Problem Briefs

AI-guided intake documents that capture business outcomes, process impact, and success metrics upfront.

Architecture Decision Records

Structured documentation of every significant decision with context, options, and rationale.

Process Maps

As-Is and To-Be workflow documentation that ensures systems serve the business process.

See our approach in action

Every engagement starts with a 30-minute discovery call. We'll walk through how our approach applies to your specific challenges.