What DBHQ is engaged for

Three engagements, each bought on its own, directly or through your consultancy. Delivery is agentic, and Daniel Grimes leads every engagement.

  • Three engagements
  • Bought direct or through your consultancy
  • Led by Daniel Grimes
Discuss the work

How do the engagements compare?

EngagementShapeWhat it is
Delivery DefinitionOptional · fixed feeWhen named questions stop the work being quoted: the evidence, a scope, acceptance criteria and delivery options you can use with anyone.
Azure Well-Architected ReviewRead-only · fixed feeWhen an Azure workload has to go live or change hands: a dated readiness decision, with any remediation quoted separately.
Production Delivery SprintFixed price · one bounded releaseOne defined release taken into production and handed to a named operational owner: an integration built, a migration landed, a stalled build rescued.
Fractional CTORetainer · agreed days a monthSenior technical leadership on agreed days each month for a team without a technology lead, or short cover when a lead is away and a release cannot wait.

Assessments

Delivery Definition

Optional · around five days' effort · fixed fee

A separately priced investigation, for when unresolved technical or process questions prevent a reliable quote. One proposed change, up to three named questions, and an evidence-backed answer. It contains:

  • A decision summary - proceed, change approach, defer or stop, with the reasons
  • The evidence, separating what was observed, reported, assumed and still unknown
  • Scope, acceptance criteria and the delivery options that follow from it
The terms, in plain words

The pack is editable and yours, to use with DBHQ, your own team or another supplier. There is no obligation to commission implementation, and the investigation fee is not credited against later work. If the work is already clear enough to quote, this step is unnecessary.

The most common shape of this is a spreadsheet - the one your business quietly runs on.

The Delivery Definition in full

Azure Well-Architected Review

Read-only · fixed fee

For one Azure workload that has to go live or change hands, a dated readiness decision backed by evidence from your own estate. It contains:

  • Release or handover blockers, each backed by evidence
  • A prioritised backlog, every item with an owner, an effort estimate and an acceptance condition
  • An engineering readiness recommendation, and a readout that walks your team through it
The terms, in plain words

The review is sold separately from the work it recommends. The evidence and the backlog are yours to use with any delivery team, and any remediation is quoted on its own.

The Azure Well-Architected Review in full

Delivery

Production Delivery Sprint

Fixed price, one bounded release · 2 to 4 weeks

One outcome, shipped to production. The shapes this work takes: an AI workflow connected to the systems of record; two platforms integrated after an acquisition; a manual reporting process automated end to end; a stalled internal build rescued and delivered. Every sprint includes:

  • Fixed scope, price and timebox, agreed in writing before work starts
  • Acceptance criteria - "done" is defined on day one
  • Warranty on what ships
  • Documentation and a clean handover - everything stays with you
  • DBHQ's own tooling and methods throughout
The terms, in plain words

One outcome per sprint is a discipline, not a limitation: it is why sprints finish. The next idea becomes the next sprint.

Ongoing

Fractional CTO

Retainer · agreed days a month

Senior technical leadership on agreed days each month for a team without a technology lead, or short cover when a lead is away and a release cannot wait.

The terms, in plain words

The days are agreed in advance, and the arrangement is set out in writing before it starts.

The Fractional CTO in full

Not sure which fits? Fifteen minutes will sort it.

Where engagements usually start

Questions, answered

How much does it cost?
A fixed price against agreed deliverables, quoted after a short call - not a day-rate meter running until someone says stop. A day rate is available where it genuinely fits better, usually working alongside your own team or through a consultancy. The Fractional CTO retainer is priced per agreed days each month. The price follows the shape of the problem rather than the hours it takes: a Delivery Definition is scoped to the questions it has to answer and a Sprint to the outcome you need shipped. That is why the number comes after a conversation - fifteen minutes is normally enough to know whether the work is sprint-shaped and what it would cost. Two things are always true. Each engagement is charged once, on its own: a Delivery Definition is bought only where it is needed, and its fee is not credited against later work. And the price does not move mid-flight: scope, price and timebox are agreed in writing before work starts.
What happens if the scope changes?
New ideas become the next sprint, not scope creep in this one. That is why sprints finish. If something genuinely changes the outcome we agreed, we stop and re-scope it in the open - you are never billed for a surprise.
Do we own what you build?
Yes - all of it. Code, documentation, data and tooling, hosted in your own accounts. There are no licences to me and nothing to unpick if you bring in someone else later.
How quickly can you start?
It depends on what is already committed, and a straight answer on that is the first thing you get back - within 24 hours of you getting in touch.

Fifteen minutes will tell you if this fits

Bring the problem - the stalled pilot, the systems that do not talk, the manual process eating your team. You will get a straight answer on whether it is sprint-shaped, roughly what it would cost, and when it could be running.

Bring me the problemBook a call

I reply within 24 hours