The five steps, start to finish

Our engagement framework

Five steps, seven rules, and a list of what we need from your side.
Please note
Not every engagement moves through all five stages. The Diagnosis and Measurement pilot phases are contracted separately, and either can serve as our final deliverable. Timelines begin once the access, documentation, and people required for the relevant stage are available.
The rules

Seven rules that apply to every project

Open methodology
You get the final metric and the exact logic we used to reach it. We expect you to audit every line of code, never take our word for it. Every build ships with the cost model we used to justify it, so you can check afterwards whether it paid for itself.
Predictable pricing
Each stage starts with an agreed scope and price. If the scope changes, we confirm the revised price before continuing. We do not add unapproved hours to the invoice.
Clear stopping condition
Every stage ends with a concrete result and a decision about what happens next. We recommend further work only when the evidence supports it.
We work in your environment
Engineering takes place inside your environment. We agree the access needed for each stage and work with your team on architectural decisions.
Immediate data and code ownership
Code, documentation and knowledge stay with your team. Handover includes the access and practical guidance needed to own the delivered work.
Phase-by-phase agreements
The call, diagnosis, measurement pilot and project each have their own goal and result. We agree the next stage before committing to it.
Hands-on senior engineers
The engineers doing the work collaborate directly with the people who build your reports and maintain your systems. Architectural decisions are made with your team.
How we work

What we need from you

Four things. Without the first three, the schedule slips; without the fourth, the project has no point. We would rather align on this now than in week three

Environment & system access

The schedule starts the day access is granted. The time your compliance process takes is counted separately and doesn't sit inside the quote.

People who know the context

A few hours from the people who actually build those reports and maintain those systems. Not their managers.

One person who can decide

A decision-maker settles metric calculations. Without this, agreement stalls instead of engineering.

Internal ownership of the outcome

Someone must own this problem. A measurement means nothing; if no one acts, it just sits in a drawer. You can't buy this responsibility.

We work with your team, not over them

An external firm coming in usually makes engineers nervous about two things: that someone will judge the work they have done, and that someone will replace them. We take on the technical debt and the maintenance that nobody enjoys, so they can get back to the product backlog. Architectural decisions are made with them, not around them.
Who we are

Frequently asked
questions

What if the scope changes along the way?
We pause the stage, confirm the revised scope and price, and continue only after you approve them. We do not add unapproved hours to the invoice.
Who works on the project?
Cadvel is led by two founders, supported by a core engineering team and specialists selected for each project.
What if our compliance process takes a month?
The schedule starts the day access is granted. The time your compliance process takes is counted separately and does not sit inside the quote.
Do you sign an NDA before the first call?
Contact us to agree confidentiality requirements before sharing sensitive information.

Start with one problem.

We measure its cost and define the scope through a fixed-price assessment, then recommend what, if anything, should happen next.