The two-week build diagnostic.
For a company deciding whether to have Floburn build custom software: two weeks of interviews and measurement, then a written recommendation and scope.
Two weeks of interviews, measurement and a written recommendation before Floburn or anyone else scopes a build. Fixed fee. The document is yours to take to another vendor.
- Fee
- Fixed, quoted before work begins
- Track
- Standard, or through outside counsel
- Terms
- 50% on signature, 50% on readout
Free · 30 minutes · by phone or video. We tell you whether the build diagnostic is worth doing for you, and if it is not, we say so.
Two-week build diagnostic
Why two weeks of paid work first
The recommendation rests on measured facts about your systems and data rather than assumptions, and it is a document you can act on. Two weeks is the smallest unit of work that gets there.
If we don’t do the build that follows, the deliverable still has value — you can hand it to a different vendor or run the implementation yourself.
Week one: interviews and measurement. Week two: the recommendation and the readout.
- 01
Stakeholder interviews
Four to seven people, from the budget owner to the people who do the work the build would touch.
- 02
Technical inventory
The systems, APIs, and data the build would depend on — including the gap between what the documentation says and what is actually in the database.
- 03
Baseline measurement
The two or three metrics that matter, in writing, with methodology, before any build work begins.
- 01
Current-state map
The discovery output, analysed: the constraint that has to be solved before any software helps, the dependencies, the risk profile.
- 02
Recommendations document
Eight to fifteen pages. A document, not a deck — and it is sent ahead of the readout, not presented at it.
- 03
The readout
Sixty to ninety minutes with your leadership team. You have already read the document; the meeting is for questions.
Five sections, the same shape every time.
Eight to fifteen pages, sent ahead of the readout. The same five headings on every engagement, so you know what you are buying before you buy it.
01Current state
What systems are in play, what the data actually looks like, what the baseline metrics are, and what the operating constraint is. Descriptive, not prescriptive — measured before any build work begins.
02Recommendations
What we’d build, what we’d defer, and what we wouldn’t do — named specifically, with the reasoning per recommendation. The diagnostic is paid even when the recommendation is don’t proceed.
03Scope
If the recommendations point at a build: sprints, deliverables, dependencies, the integration list, a cost band, and a timeline band — documented at the level you could hand to another vendor. If they point at don’t build: what to do instead.
04Risk register
What we think could go wrong, in priority order, with an honest read on each.
05Counsel attribution
For compliance-touching engagements only: The framework is routed through California labor and employment outside counsel — yours, or counsel engaged for the purpose — and the review is reflected in the document, with the disclosure, in writing, that reviewing counsel does not represent you.
Why two weeks, and what we ask of you.
Shorter than two weeks doesn’t allow real measurement. Longer invites scope creep — if the diagnostic bleeds past two weeks, it usually means implementation work has started without a signed scope, which is bad for both sides. Two weeks is the smallest window that produces a real artifact and the largest that doesn’t pretend to be more than a diagnostic.
If the recommendation is a build, the build is its own fixed-scope contract — deliverables, milestones, fee, signed before work starts. We don’t autorenew into ongoing work; we’ve written about why. Run-state support, where it’s wanted, is a defined deliverable on a defined cadence — never an open meter.
Access
Read-only access to the relevant systems and data.
Time
Four to seven interviews of 45–60 minutes, plus the readout.
The fee
Half on signature, half on readout day.
An NDA
Mutual.
A conversation first. The build diagnostic if it fits.
Tell us what you’re considering building and what’s prompting it. We’ll tell you whether the build diagnostic makes sense for your situation — and if we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so.
Free · 30 minutes · by phone or video. We tell you whether the build diagnostic is worth doing for you, and if it is not, we say so.
Floburn Inc. is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. Retain your own counsel for advice specific to your situation.