Skip to content
Nincol Consultancy

A focused engagement that ends in a decision

Clear scope, visible reasoning and a written recommendation your team can use.

Nincol adviser leading a focused architecture workshop with a product team

  1. Describe the decision

    You describe the situation and what decision you are facing. We read every request personally and reply within one business day.

  2. Confirm the scope

    We confirm in writing what we will examine, what you will receive, what it costs and what is explicitly out of scope.

  3. Examine the evidence

    We review the material, interview the people who hold the context and test our assumptions against how the business actually operates.

  4. Receive the recommendation

    You receive a document you own: findings, recommendations, risks and a path forward you can hand to any vendor.

  5. Challenge the thinking

    We talk through the recommendation, answer challenges to it, and agree what happens next. You are free to take it elsewhere.

What we ask you for

What falls on you varies by engagement. Across every service, it groups into the same few things.

The decision or problem itself

  • The specific decision or question you need to resolve
  • A description of the problem and who has it
  • The decisions you want support on each month
  • Where you want to be in twelve months

Access to the right people and systems

  • Access to the people who understand the business problem and intended users
  • The domain and written authorisation to assess it
  • Who currently maintains it
  • Written authorisation from the system owner
  • A test environment and non-production account
  • Hosting, identity and secrets arrangements

What already exists

  • Relevant context, options or quotations you already have
  • Any existing scope, wireframes or notes
  • Existing research, workflows, requirements, proposals or technical material
  • Current system documentation, if any exists
  • The proposal or quotation under consideration
  • The brief or requirements it responds to
  • Any competing quotations for comparison
  • Architecture notes and the technology stack
  • Architecture diagrams or a walkthrough session
  • Your CV and any portfolio or repositories

The constraints that shape the work

  • The constraints that matter most: time, cost, risk or capability
  • Your budget range and target launch window
  • Known constraints around funding, delivery timing, technology and procurement
  • Expected users, volumes and integrations
  • Constraints you cannot change: budget, team, hosting
  • Whether the site is business critical
  • What data the system holds and who may see it
  • Your roadmap and current delivery constraints
  • Team structure and reporting lines
  • How much time you can commit each week

What you receive

Every family of engagement ends the same way: a written document you own, not a verbal readout.

Product decisions

  • 60-minute focused consultation
  • Concise written decision summary
  • Major risks, considerations and recommended next steps
  • Discovery summary and problem framing
  • Feature prioritisation and MVP scope
  • Cost model and implementation roadmap
  • Executive summary, objectives, assumptions and stakeholder needs
  • User journeys, functional scope, exclusions, MVP and later roadmap
  • Solution, data, integration, API and identity architecture
  • Security, privacy, deployment and operational requirements
  • Delivery team, timeline and implementation budget range
  • Risks, dependencies, implementation roadmap and vendor considerations

Architecture and systems

  • Context, container and component views
  • Data model and integration design
  • Architecture decision records and non-functional requirements

Vendor and procurement

  • Proposal and scope assessment
  • Vendor evaluation matrix
  • Risk log and procurement criteria

Security review

  • Attack surface and configuration review
  • Risk-ranked findings report
  • Prioritised remediation checklist
  • Authentication, authorisation and session review
  • Findings mapped to OWASP ASVS requirements
  • Remediation backlog with engineering guidance
  • Threat model and trust boundary map
  • Sensitive data flow analysis
  • Secure architecture recommendations

Technology leadership

  • Technology roadmap prioritisation and review
  • Architecture and major technical decisions
  • Vendor and delivery-risk oversight
  • Engineering standards and security priorities
  • Periodic technology leadership review

Career direction

  • Skills gap assessment
  • Learning roadmap and project plan
  • Portfolio and direction review
See a sample deliverable

How long it takes

Typical, not guaranteed. Your exact timeline is confirmed in writing before work begins, alongside the fee.

Software Decision Session
60-minute session
Software Idea Assessment
5-10 business days
Software Solution Blueprint
15-25 business days
Solution Architecture
10-15 business days
Quotation and Vendor Review
3-7 business days
Website Security Health Check
3-5 business days
Application Security Review
7-15 business days
Secure Architecture Review
7-12 business days
Fractional Technology Leadership
Monthly engagement
Technology Career Advisory
60-minute session