HOW IT WORKS
01 / 09

The process map is the contract.

Our first job is to understand how your company runs today. We document the process with the people who own it and check the map against their work. Only then do we decide together whether bespoke software makes sense.

Book a fit call Walk the five steps

This page explains how an engagement runs. For fixed-scope services and starting prices, see the services. The working principles and templates are on the method page.

02
THE FIVE-STEP PROCESS

Five steps from the first conversation to working software.

We can stop after any step if the evidence no longer supports the work. A recommendation to not build comes before a proposal.

  1. 01

    Discovery

    Week 1 to 2

    We meet with the people who do the work and walk through the process that is causing trouble. Together, we choose one use case to examine. The founder or COO joins the session. We need to see that the process itself is the problem before we recommend more software.

    Output

    A written fit assessment covers what we heard and whether a map would help. If it would, the assessment includes a fixed proposal for that work.

  2. 02

    Design and POC

    Week 3

    We sketch the validated process with your team. The rough wireframes help us check our understanding before anyone treats them as a product design. By the end of the week, a functional slice runs on your data.

    Output

    A working proof of concept, rough wireframes, and an early view of the scope.

  3. 03

    Demo

    Week 4

    Your stakeholders see the result working with your data. We explain it in terms of the process they own, then show how this first slice could become part of the system they use to run the company.

    Output

    A reviewed scope with clear exclusions, possible milestones, and any manual work that should remain in place for now.

  4. 04

    Proposal

    Week 5

    We prepare a 12-month engagement plan with pricing for each milestone and ROI projections based on the business metric named during Discovery. Our recommendation may be to build all or part of the system, defer the work, use SaaS, or investigate further.

    Output

    A fixed proposal for the first milestone and a working plan for the rest of the year.

  5. 05

    Pilot and Expand

    Month 2 to 12

    Design and engineering ship the first usable part within a month. Later milestones are defined by business outcomes. Once the first process is running in the system, we hold a separate fit conversation before taking on another process. We keep the map current as the software changes.

    Output

    Working software delivered by milestone. The system takes on another use case only when the business is ready for it.

03
THE ENGAGEMENT, STAGE BY STAGE

The work falls into four stages: Fit, Map, Build, Expand.

Each stage has its own decision and deliverable. We stop when the evidence says the work should stop. During Expand, the map stays current with the business.

  1. 01

    Fit

    Deliverable

    Qualified pain, written assessment

    Time

    1 conversation

    In the room

    Founder or COO and process lead

  2. 02

    Map

    Deliverable

    Five-day workshop, output package, recommendation

    Time

    5 working days

    In the room

    Process users, owners, operator pair

  3. 03

    Build

    Deliverable

    Design and engineering in parallel, with milestones tied to outcomes

    Time

    First surface < 30 days

    In the room

    Delivery engineer, design lead, your team

  4. 04

    Expand

    Deliverable

    Small changes within scope can go live the same day. New processes return to Fit.

    Time

    Hours to days

    In the room

    Same team, alongside yours

Stage 02

What happens during the five-day map

  1. Day 1

    Walk the process

  2. Day 2

    Process the evidence

  3. Day 3

    Validate via wireframes

  4. Day 4

    Shape the scope and offer

  5. Day 5

    Recommendation review

04
STAGE BY STAGE / IN DETAIL

STAGE 01

Fit

We check the problem before proposing any work.

The fit call covers the process that is causing trouble, the tools you have tried, the cost of mistakes, and the constraint outsiders tend to miss. We look for evidence that the process itself needs attention. Sometimes replacing one SaaS product with another is enough.

SaaS remains the sensible choice for most companies. If it is the sensible choice here, that will be our recommendation.

Deliverable

A written fit assessment records what we heard, the evidence that matters, and our recommendation. When a map is warranted, the assessment includes a fixed proposal.

Who is in the room

Your process lead and founder or COO, with our process lead.

Time

One conversation. A written reply within the week.

STAGE 02

Map

Five days to document the process and check it with the people who run it.

The map is a five-day workshop and the part of this engagement we have run most often. Its written output sets the scope and gives the later work a shared reference.

You can buy the Map stage as Domain-Driven Process Modeling. It has a fixed scope and price, starting at EUR 8k.

  1. Day 1

    The people who do the work walk us through the current process. We record who is involved, what they do, the decisions they make, the tools and files they use, and where the work breaks down.

  2. Day 2

    Our team reviews the evidence without taking more of your time. We check the process list, identify the screens it implies, and draft rough wireframes for validation.

  3. Day 3

    We use the wireframes to check the usual path, exceptions, permissions, and data needs. This session is where your team corrects our misunderstandings.

  4. Day 4

    Our team turns the validated map into a proposed scope. We define possible milestones and document the risks, dependencies, and assumptions behind the estimate.

  5. Day 5

    We review the recommendation with you. The discussion covers what belongs in the first scope, what can wait, what should stay manual, and what should be left out. If the proposal fits, we discuss the offer.

Deliverable

A reviewed Process Mapping package includes our recommendation, current and proposed process maps, scope and exclusions, milestones, rough wireframes, dependencies, unresolved risks, and a proposal based on the findings.

Who is in the room

Process users and owners join with the relevant system or data owners. Your founder or COO attends Days 1, 3, and 5. Our process lead, engineering lead, and operator pair run the work.

Time

Five working days, plus a short preparation week.

STAGE 03

Build

Design and engineering work from the same map.

Design and engineering begin together with the validated map. Within two weeks, design prepares the first usable process slice and engineering implements it.

Later milestones correspond to business outcomes. Each review uses the language of the process so the people responsible for it can judge the result.

The codebase, data, runtime configuration, and decision records belong to you.

Deliverable

Working software delivered in milestones against the agreed scope, with reviews grounded in the process it supports.

Who is in the room

Our product delivery engineer, design lead, and operator pair work with your team. We use AI for routine production work and review its output before it affects the service.

Time

First useful surface inside the first month. Milestone cadence from there.

STAGE 04

Expand

We update the software as the mapped process changes.

EHOS supports short, governed changes within the agreed scope. When the team understands a change on Monday, a small update can be live on Tuesday. We update the business-readable contract at the same time.

A new process begins with another Fit stage. The case for custom software must be made separately each time.

The method page publishes the blueprint, practitioner workbook, and templates used at this stage. the PNS Method shapes the contract, and EHOS governs execution and evidence.

Deliverable

A live system updated as the mapped process changes. Each new process receives its own fit assessment.

Time

Hours to days for in-scope change. New processes follow the full stage sequence.

05
WHO IS IN THE ROOM

The owner is in the room.

The founder remains responsible for how the company operates. Our team can document the process and build the software, but we cannot make that operating decision on the founder's behalf.

The decision-maker needs to attend the fit call and Days 1, 3, and 5 of the map. If that time is unavailable, we postpone the engagement.

Roles on our side

  • 01

    Process lead

    Runs the mapping work and keeps it grounded in the evidence.

  • 02

    Engineering lead

    Is responsible for the runtime and technical delivery.

  • 03

    Operator pair

    Works beside your team during the map and early build.

  • 04

    Product delivery engineer

    Leads each milestone and is responsible for quality, releases, and delivery risk.

  • 05

    AI in the loop

    Helps with routine work throughout the engagement. Our team reviews its output before using it as evidence or putting it into the service.

06 / 07
WORKING AGREEMENTS

06 / What you can expect

How we work with you

  • We show our evidence.

    You receive the relevant transcripts, maps, and decision records.

  • We record and transcribe sessions.

    You can ask us not to record a session.

  • Every scope includes exclusions.

    The proposal states what we plan to leave out.

  • We recommend the option supported by the work.

    That may be custom software, SaaS, partial automation, a manual workaround, or no build.

  • Milestones correspond to user or process outcomes.

    The people who own the process can judge whether each one worked.

  • We write down assumptions and trade-offs.

    They stay available for review throughout the engagement.

07 / Outside the engagement

Work we do not take on

  • Seventy-slide discovery decks

    The written process map is the deliverable.

  • Generic templates in place of evidence

    The map describes your process.

  • Vendor selection consulting

    The fit call can still conclude that an existing product is sufficient.

  • Staff augmentation

    Our team takes responsibility for a defined result in your operating system.

  • Loose qualification

    When the process is not the constraint, the fit assessment says so.

08
PRICING POSTURE

How we price each stage

The free fit call ends with a written assessment. If a map is appropriate, we quote it at a fixed price. Its findings define the build milestones, and we price each milestone separately. After launch, the retainer reflects how often the mapped process changes.

Invoices follow the agreed map and milestone outcomes.

  1. Fit

    Free

    Written assessment

  2. Map

    Fixed

    Covers the workshop

  3. Build

    Fixed per milestone

    Quoted for each result

  4. Expand

    Retainer

    Based on change frequency

09
THE FIRST STEP

The first step is the fit call.

In the fit call, we look at the process causing trouble and decide whether a map would help. You receive our answer in writing within a week.

Book a fit call Check whether the engagement fits

See the three engagements