The manual, not the framework. Take what you need.
The 17 moves the operating model asks you to make, each written out with the steps, a worked example and the ways it goes wrong.
- Guides, each with the steps, a worked example and the failure modes
- 17
- Groups, in the order work moves through a quarter
- 5
- Steps written out in full, not summarised
- 142
- To use them, with us or without us
- £0
What these are. The delivery operating model our engagements install alongside client teams: the method underneath the agentic work rather than the agentic work itself, published in full and free to use. It is written for the person running a quarter, not for a buyer, so if you are evaluating us, read the five priced engagements or the case studies instead.
Prefer to talk it through? Ask us on a discovery call →
Free to copy, adapt and rename
These are operating instructions for a team running the model, not a case for hiring us. They are published in full and free to rename to fit the words your organisation already uses.
- The operating model → the whole thing in one read, including AI-augmented versus AI-native delivery.
- Agentic transformation in Financial Services → what the regimes decide before any of this starts.
- Building with AI → the engineering method rather than the delivery method.
- Case studies → what we have actually delivered, with the evidence basis stated on each one.
The two your board will feel
The other fifteen change how the work is written. These two change what leaves the delivery organisation: whether the money arrived, and when the rest of it will.
How to measure value (outcome validation)
A shipped epic is not a delivered epic. Validation is what closes the loop between “we built it” and “it worked”.
8 steps · takes about three hours a month · worked example · 10 min read
How to forecast with confidence intervals
Replace the single invented date with a probability the business can plan against, derived from your own throughput.
8 steps · takes about two hours · worked example · 9 min read
Both appear again in their own stage below. Everything else on this page is written for the person running the quarter.
Setting up the work
Before anyone writes a ticket. Naming the result, pricing it, finding out whether it is true, and turning it into a quarter of epics whose numbers add up.
- 01
How to set an outcome
An outcome is a business result with a price tag. If you cannot price it, it is not an outcome, it is a wish.
8 steps · takes about six hours · 2 worked examples · AI-native note · 14 min read
- 02
How to put together a quarterly roadmap
A roadmap is one quarter, twelve to thirteen weeks. Outcomes can span quarters; epics cannot.
9 steps · takes about two days · worked example · AI-native note · 11 min read
- 03
How to write a value-focused epic
An epic is your unit of value contribution to an outcome. If it does not carry a number, it is a feature wishlist.
8 steps · takes about half a day · worked example · AI-native note · 9 min read
- 04
How to break an epic into stories
A story is the smallest piece of user-visible value the team can ship. If it does not change the user's experience, it is a chapter, not a story.
9 steps · takes about half a day · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
- 05
How to do discovery research
Discovery is how a hypothesis stops being a hunch. Keep the evidence linked to the work, not buried in an archive.
9 steps · takes two weeks · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
Writing the work
The ticket-level craft. What counts as a story, what is really a chapter, what is a bug rather than a missed requirement, and what belongs in the RAID log instead.
- 06
How to write a story
A good story is small enough to build in a sprint, specific enough to test, and honest about the assumptions it carries.
9 steps · takes about two hours · worked example · AI-native note · 11 min read
- 07
How to write a chapter
A chapter is what a developer creates when a story turns out to be bigger mid-build. A tactical sub-task, not a user-visible slice.
7 steps · takes about an hour · worked example · AI-native note · 9 min read
- 08
How to raise a bug
A bug is a defect in something already shipped. If it is a missed requirement, it is a story, call it what it is.
8 steps · takes about ninety minutes · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
- 09
How to write a risk or issue
A risk might hurt delivery. An issue is hurting delivery right now. The RAID log is where both live.
9 steps · takes about forty-five minutes · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
Shipping and supporting
Everything after the merge. Telling four different audiences what changed, watching the first week for the things staging never showed you, and investigating honestly when something breaks.
- 10
How to write release notes
Release notes serve four audiences with one ship: customers, support, executives, and the on-call developer. Write each for its reader.
8 steps · takes about three hours · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
- 11
How to run live monitoring after a release
The first seven days post-release are when reality contradicts the staging environment. Live monitoring is the structured check that catches it.
8 steps · takes seven days · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
- 12
How to run a root cause analysis
An RCA is not a blame exercise. It is an investigation into the system that allowed the failure, so the next one does not happen the same way.
9 steps · takes five working days · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
A shipped epic is not a delivered epic. Validation is what closes the loop between “we built it” and “it worked”.
Measuring and managing
Closing the loop between built and worked, and running the week so the delivery decisions get made rather than reported on.
- 13
How to measure value (outcome validation)
A shipped epic is not a delivered epic. Validation is what closes the loop between “we built it” and “it worked”.
8 steps · takes about three hours a month · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
- 14
How to manage day-to-day product delivery
A product manager's daily job is sequencing decisions, not status updates. If you are spending all day in chat, something is wrong.
8 steps · takes about two hours a day · worked example · AI-native note · 9 min read
- 15
How to manage delivery to be on time
Predictable delivery is not about pushing harder. It is about seeing the slip early enough to make a real choice about it.
9 steps · takes one quarter · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
Forecasting and team health
The two numbers a delivery organisation actually runs on: when the work will land, and whether the team can keep landing it.
- 16
How to forecast with confidence intervals
Replace the single invented date with a probability the business can plan against, derived from your own throughput.
8 steps · takes about two hours · worked example · AI-native note · 9 min read
- 17
How to run a team health check
Monthly, per team, reviewed by both the team and management. The trend is the signal; any single month is noise.
8 steps · takes about two hours a month · worked example · AI-native note · 10 min read
Want hands-on help?
These guides are free and you owe us nothing for using them. If you would rather have operators install the model alongside your teams and stay until it sticks, that is what our engagements do.
Most organisations start with a fixed-price Agent-Readiness Audit · £30k–£90k · 6–8 weeks