Most disappointing engagements are the right team on the wrong contract. Pick the shape that matches how settled the work is — and if you pick wrong, we will say so before you sign rather than after.
Fixed scope prices certainty. A standing pod prices continuity. Augmentation prices capacity. Buying the wrong one is expensive in a way that only shows up in month four — which is why the first conversation is about which it should be.
Each page below says plainly when that model is the wrong choice. That section is the useful one — read it first.
Pick this when: You know what needs to exist, and you want one team accountable for producing it by a date.
Project-based is the right shape when you know what needs to exist and want one team accountable for producing it. We agree the scope, the sequence and the acceptance criteria up front, then run the build against them — with the awkward parts scheduled first, while there is still room to react.
Pick this when: The roadmap keeps moving and you need capacity that absorbs change without a change request.
A dedicated team is the right shape when the work is continuous and the priorities are yours to change. Rather than pricing certainty you do not have, you get a pod that absorbs new direction without a change request — and that accumulates knowledge of your systems instead of losing it at the end of each engagement.
Pick this when: The team and the process are right. You are short of hands, or short of one specific skill.
Augmentation suits teams who know what they are building and how they work, and simply do not have enough hands — or lack one specific skill for a defined stretch. You keep ownership of architecture, process and roadmap. We supply engineers who work the way you already do, and who are honest about the fact that they are new to your domain.
The honest version. Select a model to see the case against it.
Principals and staff engineers, no junior bench underneath. The people who scope the work are the people who do it — that is the one thing that does not change between these three contracts.
Describe the work and we will tell you which model fits — including when the answer is none of them yet. An engineer, not a sales rep, replies within one business day.