// Engagements

How I engage

Every piece of work starts with a conversation about what you are trying to move forward. We might begin with one focused question, a short assessment, or a longer piece of delivery, and adjust the shape as we learn more.

A specific blocker is often a useful place to start. We can agree a bounded assessment of one product or workflow, with a clear scope and fee, then decide together what the findings call for.

The examples below are starting points, not a catalogue you need to fit into. If your situation sits between them, we can shape something that makes sense for you.

Greenfield product discovery

Focused exploration or a longer discovery

If you are exploring a new product, internal capability or technical opportunity, I can help give it enough shape to make the next decision with confidence. That might mean testing one difficult assumption, building a useful vertical slice, or working through the wider product and technical direction.

› Problem framing with the people who will use and fund it
› Technical feasibility and risk experiments
› Working prototype or end-to-end vertical slice
› Architecture and delivery options sized to the evidence
› Validation plan, cost range and build-or-stop recommendation

Rescue diagnostic

One blocker or a wider diagnostic

If an important build has stalled, an outside perspective can help separate the real constraints from the surrounding noise. We can look closely at one blocker or take a wider view across architecture, code, delivery and product, then work out a practical way forward.

› Interviews across executive, product and engineering
› Architecture and codebase assessment
› Delivery and product diagnosis
› Risk map, with what is serious separated from what is untidy
› Prioritised recovery plan and the trade-offs behind it
› One or two of the harder problems fixed along the way
› Written readout and a session with the board or executive team

Technical due diligence

A focused review or broader diligence

For boards, investors and acquirers who would value an independent technical view before committing. The review can be shaped around a particular concern or cover the wider architecture, security, delivery capability and cost of what comes next.

› Architecture, code quality and delivery capability
› Security posture and data governance
› Key-person risk and what leaves with the founders
› Remediation cost and how long it realistically takes

Prototype to production

A defined milestone or embedded delivery

When a prototype, internal tool or acquired codebase needs to become dependable software, I can take responsibility for a defined milestone or work alongside your team through the transition. The emphasis is hands-on progress, with the architecture and delivery approach fitted to the situation.

› Production architecture sized to your real constraints
› Multi-tenancy and tenant data isolation
› Identity, SSO, SAML and access control
› Observability, and evaluation where AI is involved
› Deterministic boundaries around AI, where AI is the right answer
› Environments, pipelines, testing and release

Fractional CTO

Regular, interim or occasional support

Senior technical direction for organisations that need experienced support without immediately hiring a full-time executive. The cadence can change with the work, from a concentrated period around an important decision to an ongoing role alongside the team.

› Technology and architecture strategy
› Architecture decisions, and the review that makes them stick
› Senior hiring, from the brief through to closing
› Due diligence on your own acquisitions and partnerships
› Board and executive communication
› Standards, review and capability building
› Time at the keyboard, not only in meetings

// Working together

We agree the scope, cadence and duration around what would be most useful.
A focused piece of work can be agreed upfront; less certain delivery can stay flexible as we learn.
We can start small and decide what, if anything, should follow once there is better evidence.
New Zealand company, GST registered. Quotes exclude GST.
Travel outside Auckland is charged at cost and agreed beforehand.
I will be clear about timing and capacity before we commit to anything.
Where useful, I can draw on a trusted peer network of senior specialists.

discuss an engagement

Greenfield product discovery

Rescue diagnostic

Technical due diligence

Prototype to production

Fractional CTO

Let's move your project forward