The Scoping Sprint and Architecture Blueprint are a complete, standalone deliverable — a spec and technical plan you own outright, whether or not you ever build with us. Take it to your own team, hand it to another developer, or continue straight into the Build Sprint below. Both are a normal ending, not one being the "real" outcome and the other a consolation prize.
A short, fixed-fee engagement before either of us commits to a build price. We look at how the work actually gets done today — not how it's supposed to work on paper — and map exactly what the software needs to handle, and just as importantly, what it doesn't.
What you get: a written scope document — a Product Requirements Document with plain-English and technical user stories — nothing starts until you've seen it.
The technical plan: what gets built, how your data is kept separate from everyone else's, how each piece fits together, and a Work Breakdown Structure with milestone estimates. You sign off before anyone writes a line of code.
What you get: a real architecture document and a costed build plan — the kind your team keeps and can hand to any developer, not a verbal agreement you have to take on faith.
You keep the PRD, the architecture document, and the WBS — full ownership, no strings. Execute it yourselves, hand it to your own developers, or take it out to tender with any other team. Plenty of clients stop exactly here, on purpose — that's a complete, valuable outcome, not an unfinished one.
The Scoping Sprint fee is credited toward the Build Sprint, so you're never paying twice to get to a fixed price. Delivered in weeks, tested against the acceptance criteria from the Blueprint.
Fixed price, typically $8,000–$25,000 USD depending on scope. Once it's locked into the Blueprint, the price doesn't move — delivered in weeks, not months.
What you get: working software, tested against the acceptance criteria you signed off on in the Blueprint — verified, not just "looks done."
Optional, month to month. We keep it running, tuned, and supported — no term contract, no penalty for stopping.
What you get: you're never the only person who knows how it works, and never paying to re-learn what already got solved.
No. The PRD and Architecture Blueprint are the deliverable, full stop — yours to execute however you like. We'd obviously like to build it, but you're not locked into anything by paying for the Sprint, and there's no pressure or awkward upsell if you take the spec and go elsewhere.
A Product Requirements Document, a System Architecture Blueprint, and a Work Breakdown Structure with milestone estimates — the same three-document package a $150–250/hr technical architect delivers. It's written to be handed to any developer or agency, not just us.
Yes. Once the Architecture Blueprint is signed off, that number doesn't move. Ask for something outside what was scoped, and it gets quoted separately — never silently folded into the original number.
Not usually, if you mean joining an in-progress sprint as an extra pair of hands. But handing our finished spec to your own developers to build (Exit A below) is exactly what it's designed for — that's a different arrangement to staff augmentation, worth knowing upfront.
You keep everything — the code, the documentation, full ownership. The Managed Retainer is there if you want us to keep running it, but it's optional, never a lock-in.
It depends entirely on scope. You'll have a real timeline in hand as part of the Architecture Blueprint — before you've committed to anything past the Scoping Sprint.
No free scoping calls, no obligation past that — just a clear scope and a fixed price before anything else is decided.