Planning Sprint
A plan you could hand to any engineering team
Discovery told you what and whether. Planning designs how: the architecture, the data model, the user journeys, and an estimate with real confidence behind it — ending in a Statement of Work you can sign, or a plan you can take anywhere. Either way, you're never asked to commit to a build on a hand-wave again.
Scoped at the front door · typically 2–4 weeks
Where you are
You know what you're building — but "what" isn't enough to commit money to. Without a designed architecture, a data model, and scoped milestones, any estimate is a guess, and guessed estimates are how builds end up at twice the quote. The gap between a definition and a plan is where budgets die.
Where this leaves you
A build-ready plan: architecture and stack decided, data model designed, journeys mapped, scope detailed, and a timeline and cost estimated with real confidence — packaged in a Statement of Work. The estimate risk that kills fixed-bid projects gets engineered out before the build starts.
This rung fits when
What you walk away owning
Documents that are yours, whoever builds
Everything below belongs to you — written to be usable with any competent team, and leverage in any future negotiation, including one that doesn't involve us.
System architecture & stack
The technical design and technology decisions, with the reasoning written down — chosen for your product and your future team, not the hype cycle.
Data model & ER design
The entities, relationships, and database design the product stands on — the decisions that are cheap to make now and expensive to unmake later.
Use cases, journeys & key flows
Diagrammed user journeys and use cases, plus the UI/UX design for the flows that matter — the shared picture that keeps build weeks from becoming debate weeks.
Detailed scope & firm estimate
Scope broken down to estimable units, with a timeline and cost carrying real confidence — because the design work behind them is done, not promised.
Sprint & milestone plan
The delivery sequence, milestones, and team composition — who does what, in what order, with demos wired in from week one.
Statement of Work
The committable artifact: scope, price, timeline, and terms for the Build, ready to sign — with us, or usable as your benchmark with anyone.
The scope wall
Edges, in writing
Planning ends where production begins. The items below are the Build — priced and scheduled by the Statement of Work this sprint produces.
In this engagement
- System architecture & stack
- Data model & ER design
- Use cases, journeys & key flows
- Detailed scope & firm estimate
- Sprint & milestone plan
- Statement of Work
Deliberately not included
- Production application code
- Infrastructure provisioning and deployment
- Full-product UI implementation
How it runs
The working rhythm
Architecture workshops
Working sessions on system design, stack, and the make-or-break technical decisions — grounded in the Discovery brief or Audit verdict.
Design & modelling
We design the data model, map the journeys, and detail the scope, checking in as the plan takes shape rather than disappearing for weeks.
Estimate & sequencing
Scope becomes milestones, milestones become a timeline and cost — estimated bottom-up from the design, not top-down from a sales target.
SoW readout
We walk the full plan and hand over the Statement of Work. You decide the build with everything in front of you.
Investment
Scoped and priced in your written proposal
Indicative — fixed in your written proposal · Scoped at the front door · typically 2–4 weeks
Fee credit
Your Discovery or Build Audit fee is credited in full toward Planning.
FAQ
Planning Sprint questions
Ready to design the build?
Tell us what you're holding — an idea or a codebase — and you'll have a concrete proposal for the first rung, in writing.