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Starter Services · AI & Data Assessment Sprint

Two weeks to replace your assumptions with evidence.

Most AI programs do not stall on the technology. They stall when nobody in the room can say what is actually true, what it blocks, and what to do first. The Assessment Sprint answers that from your own systems in two weeks — and gives you a recommendation you can put in front of a budget committee with the evidence, costs and assumptions attached.

Scope the sprint See exactly what fits in 2 weeks
2 weeks4 documents6 dimensions scoredFixed fee, agreed upfront

Built for technology, data and AI leaders who need to turn an AI question into a defensible investment decision.

Six dimensions: your answers, then our evidence Six AI-readiness dimensions are shown with a dashed bar for the self-reported score. A sweep passes down the list and each dimension is rescored on evidence, usually lower than the self-score and by different amounts. A card then lists the four documents delivered at the readout: scorecard, gap register, cost view and next steps. SIX DIMENSIONS · ASSUMPTION, THEN EVIDENCE · ILLUSTRATIVE ┄ SELF-SCORED■ SCORED ON EVIDENCE Data foundationGovernance and review pathEvaluation and assuranceCost and portabilityAdoption and literacySecurity and AI risk FOUR DOCUMENTS, AT THE READOUT Scorecard · Gap register · Cost view · Next steps Every score traces to something we read, ran or were shown. Two weeks, fixed fee, handed over in source. Assumption, then evidence Six readiness dimensions, each with a dashed self-score rescored on evidence, followed by the four documents delivered at the readout. ASSUMPTION, THEN EVIDENCE DataGovernanceEvaluationCostAdoptionSecurity Four documents, at the readoutScored on evidence, not on answers.
What fits in two weeks

Fixed in the proposal. The boundary is what makes two weeks real.

  • 2weeks, start to readout
  • 6readiness dimensions scored against your systems
  • 4evidence criteria on every dimension
  • 4documents delivered at the readout
  • 3cost paths, with year one and run-rate separated
  • 1checkpoint at the end of week one
  • +live readout, every artifact handed over in source
Not includedA full financial model · a board paper · full stakeholder interviews · a deeper architecture review · a vendor shortlist. Where a decision needs more, we say so at the readout.

What you receive

Four documents, and the argument that connects them.

Not a maturity score with nowhere to go. The four build on each other: what is true today, what that blocks, what the options cost, and which one to do first. Each tab shows a page from a representative sprint, so you can judge the quality of thinking before you buy it rather than after.

Document 01 of 4

Readiness scorecard

What it isThe same six dimensions the free assessment uses, scored against your systems and the people who run them — not a questionnaire you filled in about yourself.
How it is builtFour evidence criteria per dimension, with sources cited.
Why it holds upEvery cell traces to something we read, ran or were shown — which is the entire difference from a self-assessment.
Readiness scorecard, sample pageA grid of six readiness dimensions against four evidence criteria: documented, owned, measured and tested. Cells fill in column by column. Security is strongest; governance and evaluation are not yet measured or tested. READINESS SCORECARD · SIX DIMENSIONS × FOUR CRITERIA DOCUMENTEDOWNEDMEASUREDTESTEDData foundationMostlyMostlyPartialPartialGovernance and review pathPartialMostlyNot yetNot yetEvaluation and assurancePartialPartialNot yetNot yetCost and portabilityMostlyPartialPartialNot yetAdoption and literacyMostlyIn placePartialPartialSecurity and AI riskIn placeMostlyMostlyPartial THE FINDINGGovernance and evaluation are measured nowhere.Every cell traces to something we read, ran or were shown.

Illustrative. Built from the shape of real engagements and deliberately generic — no client data, no real organization. Yours will be about your systems, and the findings will be specific to them. Tell us the decision you need to make and we will say whether a sprint is the right way to answer it.

What you are buying

Diligence, not a score.

Your pipelines read. Your approval records opened. Your costs sized at your own volumes. Every finding traces to something we ran, read or were shown — which is what makes it usable in a room where someone has to sign.

Six dimensions. What the sprint does on each.
01Data foundation
Lineage traced on your actual pipelines, retrieval tested against the queries people really ask.
02Governance and review path
Your approval records read, and the reviewers spoken to separately from the teams they review.
03Evaluation and assurance
Any existing test set inspected; where there is none, we size what building one takes.
04Cost and portability
Cost per call sized at your volumes, and the switching cost of your current vendor priced rather than assumed.
05Adoption and literacy
The people expected to use it asked whether they would, without their managers in the room.
06Security and AI risk
Data egress paths mapped, and the AI-specific exposure your existing review was never designed to catch.
DocumentedOwnedMeasuredTested

How the two weeks run

Fixed scope, and you watch the thinking form.

No two weeks of silence followed by a deck. There is a checkpoint at the end of week one, so nothing in the readout arrives as a surprise — including the parts you will not like.

W1

Systems walkthrough

Architecture and data flows, as running rather than as documented.

W1

Conversations, held separately

So you get answers rather than a negotiated consensus.

W1

Checkpoint

What we are seeing, at the end of week one — so nothing in the readout arrives as a surprise.

W2

Scoring and gap ranking

Evidence attached to every score, gaps ordered by what blocks first.

W2

Cost sized at your volumes

Three paths, with run-rate separated from build.

W2

Live readout and handover

Presented to your group, every artifact in source.

Being straight about it

Whether this is the right thing to buy.

It is a narrow product. It is worth saying plainly when it is the wrong one, because a sprint sold into the wrong situation wastes two weeks of yours and our reputation.

A strong fit if

  • You have a budget conversation coming and no defensible number to bring to it.
  • There are several plausible starting points and no agreed way to choose between them.
  • An internal assessment exists, but nobody outside the team that wrote it believes it.
  • A build has stalled and the reason is contested inside the organization.
  • You need to know the order of magnitude before you can ask for anything.

Not the right fit if

  • You know what you want built and need hands rather than analysis — that is Staff Augmentation.
  • You want a vendor shortlist. We do not resell, and this is not a procurement exercise.
  • You need something running quickly — take the AI & Agent Pilot instead.
  • You want a number that justifies a decision already taken. We will give you the number we find.
Deliberately outside the two weeksFull stakeholder interviews · a deeper architecture review · modelled investment scenarios · a recommendation written for committee approval. Where a decision needs more than the sprint, we will say so at the readout and scope it with you then, rather than selling it to you now.

After the sprint

Most decisions get made on what the sprint finds.

It is deliberately short: what is there, what it blocks, what the paths cost, and what to do first. For most organizations that is enough to act on. The last document names the engagement the weakest dimension points to.

Want a free read first?

AI Readiness Assessment

The same six dimensions, scored on your own answers, in about five minutes.

 Need evidence, not answers?

AI & Data Assessment Sprint

Six dimensions scored against your systems. Four documents. Two weeks, fixed fee.

 Weak dimension named?

The starter service behind it

Platform, governance, literacy, security, or the pilot itself — each fixed in scope.

Not sure the sprint is the right size? Talk through your situation and we will say so plainly if it is not.

Before you ask

The questions we get every time.

The six things a technology or data leader asks before a two-week assessment is approved, answered the way we answer them in the proposal.

What does it cost?

We do not publish a number, because the honest answer depends on how many systems and how many teams are in scope, and a figure on a web page would be wrong for most readers. What we do commit to is the shape: a fixed fee agreed in writing before any work starts, no hourly billing, and no change orders for work inside the agreed scope. If the scope genuinely has to change, that is a conversation before it happens rather than an invoice after.

What do you need from us?

Access and some people’s time, and the specifics depend entirely on your setup. We work that out with you and write it into the proposal before you commit, so nobody discovers a hidden burden halfway through. Two weeks is short enough that we are specific about this rather than optimistic.

Can you really do this in two weeks?

For what it promises, yes — and the scope is drawn that way deliberately. Two weeks buys you a scored picture, a ranked gap register, a sized cost view and a sequence. It does not buy you a full financial model or a board paper. We would rather be exact about the boundary than quietly stretch the sprint and miss it.

Do we have to continue with you afterwards?

No, and the deliverables are built on that assumption. Everything is handed over in source and is yours to act on however you choose, including with another firm or entirely in-house. A recommendation you can only act on by rehiring the people who wrote it is not a recommendation, it is a lead magnet.

We already ran an internal assessment. Is this duplicative?

Sometimes, and we will say so before you buy. Internal assessments usually come unstuck on one of two things: the people doing the scoring are the people being scored, or the cost side was never sized, so there is nothing to take to a budget conversation. If yours has neither problem, we will tell you that on the first call rather than sell you a sprint you do not need.

How is this different from the free AI Readiness assessment?

They score the same six dimensions, and that is deliberate. The free one scores what you tell it, in about five minutes, entirely in your browser. This one scores what we find, over two weeks, against your systems — and adds the two things a self-assessment structurally cannot produce: sized costs and findings someone outside your team will accept. Take the free one first if you have not; it is a good way to see whether the questions are the right ones for you.

Start with the decision

Bring us the decision you need to make.

Tell us what you are trying to fund, fix or choose. We will tell you whether the Assessment Sprint is the right way to answer it — and say so plainly if it is not.

The decisionWhat you are trying to fund, fix or choose
What existsSystems, data, AI already in use
Who has to signBudget committee, board, a sponsor
What you scoredYour assessment result, if you have one
Scope the sprint Book a strategy call

Not ready to talk? Score yourself free in five minutes and come back with the result.

Two weeks. Four documents. Bring us the decision you need to make.

From assumption to evidence
Scope the sprint