THE ARCHITECTURE SPRINT — THE PLAN BEFORE THE BUILD
Don't spend a dollar building the wrong thing.
A scoped, paid engagement that produces the real plan before you commit a budget — what to build, in what order, what it'll cost, the risks named up front, and a shape that fits how you actually work. Roughly two weeks. Fixed fee. Fully credited toward the build if you go ahead — and yours to keep either way. The same person who maps it is the one who builds it.
THE PROBLEM IT REMOVES · THE NUMBER ALWAYS MOVES
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Most builds start with a proposal.
A number, a timeline, and a lot of optimism, none of it tested against how you actually operate. Then the build begins, the assumptions meet reality, and the number and the timeline both move. You’ve seen it, or you’ve heard about it from someone who lived it. It’s why committing to a build — at any size — feels like a leap of faith even when the work is worth doing.
We don’t ask you to take that leap. We’d rather earn the build by showing you the real plan first — and we’d rather not commit to a build we haven’t actually scoped. The Sprint de-risks it for both of us.
FIGURE
WHAT IT ACTUALLY IS · THE VALIDATION METHODOLOGY, TURNED ON THE BUILD
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We tell every client to validate demand before they build a product. The Architecture Sprint applies the same discipline to your commitment: validate the architecture before you build the platform. Map the real operation, model the data and the risks, scope the cost and the phases — and only then decide whether to build, with a plan precise enough that the number doesn’t move once we start.
You’re not buying a sales discovery call dressed up as a deliverable. You’re buying a real engineering and strategy artifact, produced by the people who’d build it.
Validate the architecture before you build the platform.
FIGURE
WHAT YOU WALK AWAY WITH · A REAL ARCHITECTURE DOCUMENT · YOURS EITHER WAY
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A real architecture document.
Four deliverables — each one a thing you can hold. Take them to another shop or build in-house: it’s still the most useful document you’ll have about your own operation. The Sprint produces value, not a sales pitch.
DELIVERABLE 01
Exact cost.
Not a range, not a “starting from” — the number for your build, scoped against your actual operation.
DELIVERABLE 02
Phased delivery.
What gets built when, in what order, and what’s usable at each phase.
DELIVERABLE 03
Named risks.
Where the build could break, named up front — not discovered mid-project.
DELIVERABLE 04
The data model.
The shape that fits how you actually operate, not a generic one you’d bend your organization into.
PROTOCOL · ARCHITECTURE SPRINT · DURATION: ~2 WEEKS · STATUS: AVAILABLE
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The phases, the fee, the credit.
One protocol document. Four phases over roughly two weeks, a fixed fee, and a clean exit either way.
FEE
$5,000
Fixed. Fully credited if you proceed.
DURATION
~2 weeks
Defined scope, defined end.
OUTCOME
A real plan
Or a document you keep, clean.
PROCEDURE — PHASE BY PHASE
Four phases. Each one’s output is the next one’s raw material.
- PHASE 01OUTPUT: THE OPERATION, MAPPED
Map what you operate.
Your real workflows, roles, and the data underneath them.
ARTIFACT
- PHASE 02OUTPUT: DATA MODEL + RISK MAP
Model the data and risks.
The schema that fits how you actually run — and where it could bite.
ARTIFACT
- PHASE 03OUTPUT: COST + PHASE PLAN
Scope cost and phases.
Exact build cost, phased, with the risks named.
ARTIFACT
- PHASE 04RESOLUTION · BUILD OR WALK
Build, or walk — clean.
Proceed with a real plan, or leave with the architecture document.
Fully credited toward the build if you proceed.
ARTIFACT
WHO IT’S FOR · A PLAN, NOT A PITCH · HONEST FIT
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Certainty before you commit — or not yet.
The Sprint is for one kind of decision. We’ll tell you honestly which side of the line you’re on.
A FIT · THE BUILD IS COMING
You want a plan, not a pitch.
- Seriously considering a platform build
- You’ve outgrown your tools
- You know the build is coming
- You’d rather de-risk the decision than gamble on a proposal
NOT A FIT · NOT YET
Come back when the build is real.
- Comfortable signing a six-figure build off a slide deck
- Not actually close to building yet
- Better served by the free teaching for now
- Start with the Library; come back when it’s real
REPLACE THE GUESS WITH A PLAN · BOOK AN ARCHITECTURE SPRINT
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Replace the guess with a plan.
Tell us what you’re operating and what’s breaking. We’ll come back on whether a Sprint is the right next step — and if it isn’t, we’ll say so.
FORM — BOOK AN ARCHITECTURE SPRINT · 4 FIELDS