Before we start
Engagement Readiness
What to expect between the scoping call and the start of the engagement. This page documents the contracting path, access categories, scheduling logic, and the readiness checklist that determines when work begins.
Contracting
A single Engagement Letter, returned in one business day.
The standard engagement is governed by a single Engagement Letter covering scope, deliverables, fees, and terms. I am happy to work within your existing contracting framework when preferred.
Executed agreements are returned within one business day of receipt.
Access and onboarding
What I need access to, and why.
The diagnostic tests an AI workflow under realistic reliance pressure. That requires observing the workflow as the team actually uses it, not in a sandbox. The access categories below cover what I have asked for across prior engagements. Specifics are confirmed during the scoping call. Expand any item for detail.
Workflow-level access
A credentialed account with sufficient permissions to execute the full AI-assisted workflow as a power user. Allows testing reasoning behavior across the complete input-output chain.
Standard user access
A separate credential reflecting the permissions of a typical end user. Allows evaluating the workflow as the team actually experiences it.
Environment access
SSH or remote desktop access to the environment where the workflow runs, when the diagnostic requires observing model behavior under production conditions.
Output and log history
Access to historical outputs, decision logs, or audit trails from the workflow under review, when available. Typically the most recent thirty to sixty days.
Documentation
System architecture diagrams, integration specifications, prompt templates or system instructions, and any internal evaluation criteria currently in use.
Provisioning access in enterprise environments involves IT, security, and sometimes legal coordination. In my experience this is the single largest driver of engagement timeline variability. Organizations that begin the access request process during the contracting phase, rather than after Engagement Letter execution, typically save two to three weeks.
Scheduling
Your slot is held for fifteen business days from Engagement Letter execution.
The engagement clock starts when your materials package is complete. The engagement start date is determined by how quickly your organization completes the readiness checklist below.
If required materials have not been received within the fifteen-business-day window, I work with you to reschedule to the next available slot.
Current lead time for new engagements: six to eight weeks.
Readiness checklist
What the engagement lead runs in parallel with contracting.
The items below are what you receive after the scoping call so materials-gathering proceeds alongside legal review rather than sequentially. Each item is something your organization controls.
- Identify and brief the engagement lead: a single point of contact with authority to provide materials and approve access within 48 hours of request.
- Begin the internal access provisioning request covering the categories above.
- Compile workflow documentation.
- Generate sample input and output pairs from the target workflow: minimum twenty representative examples.
- Document the decision chain: who receives the AI output, what decisions are made based on it, and what review process exists today.
- Identify the executive sponsor who will receive the findings brief.
- Schedule the findings review on the executive sponsor's calendar: a sixty-minute block within five business days of brief delivery, even if tentative.
My commitments
What you can hold me to.
- Executed agreements returned within one business day of receipt.
- Engagement scheduling confirmed within one business day of receiving a complete materials package.
- All deliverables on the timeline specified in the Engagement Letter.
- Findings delivered directly to the executive sponsor, not filtered through intermediaries.
Next step