Services

How to work with me

Two kinds of organization call me, and the questions run in opposite directions. Vendors are trying to be understood. Enterprise buyers are trying to see clearly. Both need someone with no product to sell.

Start here

Every engagement begins with a conversation, and nothing is chargeable until we both know what the work is. Enterprise buyers book an introductory call and tell me what they are trying to decide. Vendors book a briefing and present. Neither costs anything, neither commits you to anything, and if I am not the right person I will say so and point you somewhere better.

Book an introductory call Vendors, book a briefing

01. For enterprise buyers

You have seen a lot of agent demos. None of them told you whether your own systems could carry the work.

The demo runs on clean data in a controlled environment. Your organization has neither.

The useful question is not whether the technology works. It is whether your systems, your teams and your governance can carry a workflow end to end without a person quietly holding it together. That is what I assess, and it is why the answer is a position rather than a recommendation to buy something.

Where you actually sitScored across the three pillars of Continuous Flow Architecture, with a Friction Tax figure and the failure mode you are most exposed to.

What to fix firstSequenced rather than exhaustive. Most organizations are uneven across the pillars, and the unevenness is what tells you where to start.

AdoptionThe part most programs get wrong. Technology nobody uses is a cost, not a capability, and that outcome is designed in long before rollout.

SelectionVendor and platform decisions from someone with no scorecard to defend, no seat licenses to sell and no reason to prefer one answer.

02. For technology vendors

Your positioning tests well internally and then dies in the first analyst briefing.

Internal review rewards agreement. The room where the story actually gets tested is not your room, and by the time you are in it the launch date is fixed.

I would rather tell you what is wrong with the narrative while there is still time to change it. That is worth more than a favorable quote, and it is the reason to bring in someone whose job is not to agree with you.

Start by briefing me. There is no charge for it and there never will be. You present the roadmap, the product, the launch, whatever is coming. I listen, ask questions, and give you my reaction in the room. Everything below follows from what that conversation turns up.

Positioning pressure-testedBefore launch, while it can still move. Where the story holds, where a buyer stops believing it, and which claim will be the first one challenged.

Commissioned researchBriefs, reports and white papers. Third party analysis under my name, published under yours, written to be defensible rather than flattering.

Webinars, panels and launch commentaryIndependent perspective in front of your audience, which lands differently from your own people saying the same thing.

Ongoing retainerContinuous access rather than a project. For teams who want the argument tested regularly instead of once a year.

03. How engagements are structured

A ladder, not a menu.

Most people start at the top and stop wherever the answer is good enough. Nobody is required to go further than the question needs.

No chargeIntroductory callFor enterprise buyers. Thirty minutes. What you are trying to decide, and whether I am the right person to help you decide it.

No chargeVendor briefingFor vendors. You present. Roadmap, product, positioning, whatever is coming, and I give you my reaction in the room. Never chargeable, because being briefed is how I stay current and being understood is why you came.

PaidStrategy sessionScheduled hours against a defined question, prepared for in advance and followed up in writing so you have something to circulate. This is where a briefing usually leads once there is real work to do.

PaidWorkshop or executive briefingHalf a day or a day with your team. The assessment, the argument behind it, and the plan that comes out of the room.

ProjectCommissioned researchA brief, a report or a white paper. Scoped per project, and published by you under your name with my analysis attached.

OngoingRetainerContinuous access. For vendors and enterprises who want the relationship rather than the transaction.

On rates. Introductory calls and vendor briefings carry no charge and never will. Everything past it is scoped on that call, because the right engagement depends on the question, and I would rather quote the work than a rate. I do not publish an hourly figure. You are not buying hours. You are buying a position you can take to a board and defend.

04. What you are actually buying

Judgment and a working relationship, not a subscription tier.

Large firm research is built to be sold at scale and it is very good at that. Sixteen years at Gartner taught me exactly what that model does well, and I still point people to it when it is the right answer.

What it is not built for is speed or flexibility. What I add is a named person who answers, who moves with your category in days rather than quarters, and who has no vendor scorecard to defend. You are not buying access to a library. You are buying someone who will tell you when you are wrong.

Start with a conversation, not a contract.

Tell me what you are trying to decide. If I am the right person for it, we will talk about how to work together. If I am not, I will say so.

Book an introductory call Vendors, book a briefing

The first conversation runs thirty minutes and carries no charge.