The method
The Brunt Way™
Five stages. Every engagement, every time. Nothing here is bespoke per client — the sequence is the same every time, which is what makes it a method rather than a set of opinions.
- Then:
Stage 01
Discover
Understanding what you actually build, and how the work really flows.
Two weeks of listening. I sit with your engineers, watch a release go out, and read the last three months of incidents. Not a survey — I want to see the work as it happens, not as the process document describes it.
What you get
A written map of your delivery flow, with the friction points marked.
What your team does
Almost nothing extra. A few conversations and permission to observe a real release. I work around your delivery rather than pausing it.
- Then:
Stage 02
Assess
Where the real constraints are — in the process, the tooling, the structure, or the habits.
Every team assumes their problem is tooling. It usually isn't. I test that assumption against evidence: cycle time, where defects originate, how many handovers a change survives, and where work sits waiting for a person.
What you get
A written findings report and a ranked list of what's costing you most.
What your team does
An hour or two each from a handful of people, plus access to the data you already collect. No one is asked to prepare anything.
- Then:
Stage 03
Prioritise
Deciding what to fix first, and being honest about what to leave alone.
Most improvement plans fail because they try everything at once. We pick the two or three changes with the highest return and sequence the rest behind them. Some things on the list will never be worth fixing, and I will say so.
What you get
A sequenced roadmap with effort, impact and an owner against each item.
What your team does
A working session with whoever owns delivery. This is the stage where your judgement matters most — I bring the evidence, you know the constraints.
- Then:
Stage 04
Enable
Making the change with your team, not to them.
This is the longest stage and the one that actually moves the numbers. I work alongside your engineers — pairing, reviewing, running the first few cycles with them — until the new way is simply the way things are done.
What you get
Working practice in place, run by your people rather than by me.
What your team does
Real involvement. Your engineers pair with me on their own work, so the time comes out of how the work already gets done rather than on top of it.
Stage 05
Sustain
Making sure it holds after I leave.
The measure of the engagement is what is still true six months later. We agree what to track, who owns it, and what slipping looks like early enough to act on. Then I hand it over properly.
What you get
An agreed set of signals, owned internally, and a full handover session.
What your team does
Someone named takes ownership of each signal we agreed. That handover is the point of the stage — if nobody owns it, it will not survive.