How we work: Assess, Plan, Build, Operate
Every engagement follows the same four phases, from a written audit of where you are today to a platform that is documented, monitored and either handed over or operated under agreed terms. No surprises, and you approve the plan before we make changes.
Do I have to do all four phases?
No. The four phases are Assess, Plan, Build and Operate, and each one produces something you can keep. The assessment report stands alone, and you are not obliged to continue to planning. The same applies at each later step.
Some teams arrive with the assessment and plan already done and ask only for the build. Others want the assessment and nothing more. We scope what you actually need and confirm it in writing.
What happens in each phase?
Each phase has one job and one deliverable. The phases run in order, but they are separable, so you can stop or change direction after any of them.
Assess is a read-only review of your cloud accounts, infrastructure code, pipelines, monitoring and operations, ending in a written findings report with risks ranked by impact and effort. Plan turns those findings into a target architecture and a phased roadmap, and nothing is changed until you approve it in writing. Build implements the plan as code, delivered in small increments by pull request. Operate either hands the platform to your team with runbooks and training, or runs it for you under an agreement.
| Phase | What we do | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Assess | Read-only review and engineer interviews | Written findings report, prioritised |
| Plan | Target architecture and phased roadmap | Roadmap with scope, risks, rollback and acceptance criteria |
| Build | Implement changes as code with review | Terraform, pipelines, dashboards and documentation in your repositories |
| Operate | Handover or managed operations | Runbooks and training, or an operating agreement |
How long does an engagement take?
It depends on scope, and the honest answer is that we confirm duration in the written scope rather than promise a standard figure. Our fixed-scope packages state typical ranges: a Health Check is typically one to two weeks for one environment, a Landing Zone Sprint two to four weeks, and a CI/CD Rebuild three to six weeks.
Managed DevOps onboarding takes about four weeks, followed by month-to-month terms after an initial three-month stabilisation period.
What do I need to provide?
We need scoped, read-only access to the accounts, repositories and pipelines in scope, plus time with the engineers who know the systems. Access uses named identities that you can revoke at any time, and nothing is changed during assessment.
Conversations with your team matter as much as tool output, because the reasons behind a design are often not visible in the code. Beyond that, a named contact who can approve the plan and make decisions keeps the work moving.
- Read-only access to cloud accounts and repositories in scope
- An hour or two with the engineers who run the systems
- A decision maker who can approve the plan in writing
What if we want to stop after a phase?
You can. Everything we build is delivered in your accounts and repositories with documentation, so you can continue alone, hire someone else or return to us later. Nothing depends on our access to keep running.
If you choose Managed DevOps, the plan page describes coverage hours and exit terms, so you know in advance how a handover back to your team works.
Frequently asked questions
Will you change anything during the assessment?
Who does the work?
Who owns what you build?
Can we skip straight to the build?
What does handover include?
- 01
Cloud Infrastructure Assessment: The Assess Phase
A cloud infrastructure assessment is the first phase of our engagement. We review your cloud accounts, infrastructure code, CI/CD pipelines, monitoring and on-call practice, interview your engineers, and deliver a written findings report with risks ranked by impact and effort. It is read-only: we change nothing in your environment.
- 02
DevOps Roadmap and Target Architecture Planning
The Plan phase turns assessment findings into a target architecture and a phased DevOps roadmap. Each phase has scope, dependencies, risks, rollback approach and acceptance criteria. Nothing is changed in your environment until you have reviewed and approved the plan in writing.
- 03
DevOps Implementation: How the Build Phase Works
In the Build phase our engineers implement the approved plan as code: Terraform modules, pipeline configuration, Kubernetes manifests and monitoring dashboards. Every change arrives as a pull request that your team can review, with documentation alongside. Work is delivered in small increments you can inspect and roll back.
- 04
Managed DevOps Operations and Handover
The Operate phase ends our engagement in one of two ways. Either we hand the platform to your team with runbooks, training and a verified handover checklist, or we run it for you under a Managed DevOps agreement with on-call, defined response targets and quarterly reviews.