The method in the box
Seven phases, seven gates, eighty-eight tasks already written.
Open a new project and this is what is in it before you have typed anything. Trim it to your engagement rather than building one from an empty grid.
The seven phases
Each one ends where somebody has to sign.
Workstreams inside a phase run in parallel, the way they actually do, rather than in one long queue. You define what the workstreams are — the method supplies the shape, not the subject matter.
Discovery
Kickoff and charter, current-state review, gap analysis, requirements confirmed with the people who will have to live with them.
Design
Solution design by workstream, integration specifications, migration mapping. The phase where scope is genuinely decided rather than discussed.
Build
Configuration, customisation, integration build, first draft data loads into a test environment.
Test
Scripts executed against written expected results, defects triaged P1 to P3, rework and retest, a rehearsal run under real conditions with the real sequence.
Training
Train the trainer, end-user sessions by workstream, runbooks and quick-reference guides. Scored directly by the People dimension of the readiness scorecard, which is where optimistic launches usually fail.
Go-Live
Cutover execution, final loads, reconciliation of every object, the go/no-go decision itself, and switch-on. The readiness score is the evidence the sponsor signs against.
Post Go-Live
Stabilisation, defect burn-down, and the responsibility handover — billing cycles, contract administration, renewals, audit support — through to verified, which is the state that lets you actually leave.
What is already filled in
The trackers are not empty either.
Seeding the plan and leaving the risk log blank would only move the blank-page problem one tab to the right. Every tracker opens with a realistic starting set.
7 RAID items
The risks that turn up on essentially every engagement of this shape, pre-scored on impact and probability and pre-assigned to the roles that usually carry them.
9 test scenarios
Each with its expected result already written — the step teams skip and then argue about when a result is disputed.
13 migration objects
The records that move from the old system to the new one, each ready for a source count, a loaded count and a reconciliation signature.
7 resource rows
The roles an engagement of this size needs, mostly waiting for names. The role text is what the plan matches demand against, so filling these in is what makes utilisation real.
10 readiness criteria
Specific ones, not placeholders — open P1 defects, integrations live, rehearsal timing confirmed, support plan active. Weighted across five dimensions to 1.00, threshold 80%.
Budget assumptions
A default rate, 10% expense contingency and 15% scope contingency, all of which you should change and all of which are visible rather than baked into task estimates.
First hour
What to do with it on day one.
The method is a starting point that expects to be cut. Most engagements delete a meaningful share of it in the first sitting, and that is the intended use.
Set the engagement mode
Advisory or delivery. This decides which tasks are in scope at all and re-prices the whole plan on the spot.
Delete what does not apply
Whole workstreams if your engagement does not have them. Be ruthless — a plan carrying tasks nobody intends to do is how percent complete stops meaning anything.
Rename the workstreams to your work
The seeded ones are named for a system implementation. Change them to whatever your engagement is actually made of; nothing downstream depends on the wording.
Set scope multipliers
Leave 1 where the client is typical. Push to 1.5 where you already know it will be hard. This is where your judgement about this specific client enters the numbers.
Name the resources
Put real people against the role rows, matching the role text exactly to what the plan uses. Then read the unstaffed hours number.
Weight the readiness scorecard
Export the readiness CSV, adjust the ten criteria to what your firm has learned actually predicts a bad launch, keep the weights summing to 1.00, and import it back.
Export it as your firm's baseline
Once it fits how you work, export the whole project as JSON. That file starts every future engagement, and the method stops being ours.
Open a project and it is already populated.
88 tasks, seven gates, thirteen migration objects and a readiness scorecard waiting for scores.