For boards, CTOs and platform leaders shortlisting
How I work.
Most senior practitioners hide pricing and engagement shapes. Publishing them cuts the sales cycle in half and disqualifies bad-fit work before it costs you a meeting. Below: how I engage, what’s in scope, what isn’t, and indicative bands.
Principle 01
Substrate first, use-case second. The compound only emerges when the four disciplines share one operating substrate.
Principle 02
Encoded beats documented. If it isn’t enforced by the platform, it’s rhetoric.
Principle 03
Sequence the work by substrate, not by discipline. One identity programme improves DevSecOps, data and AI simultaneously.
Principle 04
Report compound metrics. Time-to-first-audited-deploy beats individual function delivery every quarter.
Five engagement shapes.
Indicative AUD bands shown. Final scope, pricing and IP arrangements agreed in a one-page SOW after a 30-min call.
01 · Diagnostic: 2-week scoring + 1-day readout.
A$30K–55Kfixed scope · 2 weeks
In scope
- 1–3 of the six diagnostics, run with your data & reality (not the self-serve version)
- Capability breakdown per diagnostic + cross-cutting substrate findings
- One-day on-site / virtual readout with the leadership team
- Prioritised 90-day plan: 3 substrate moves + sequencing
- Written report (~15 pages) you can take to the board
Best fit
- Pre-investment: validating where to spend the next $1–5M
- Post-incident: independent read on what to fix first
- New CIO/CTO first 90 days: honest baseline before announcements
- Regulator-prep: APRA CPS 234/230, EU AI Act, ISO/IEC 42001 readiness check
Out of scope
- Implementation
- Vendor selection scoring (separate engagement)
- Re-running the self-serve diagnostics yourself
02 · Advisory retainer: monthly, named-availability.
A$18K–28K / month3-month minimum · named-day allocation
In scope
- 4–6 days/month of named availability across architecture, platform engineering, DevSecOps, GenAI
- Async access via Slack/Teams for in-flight decisions
- One scheduled deep-dive session per fortnight
- Monthly written readout against the agreed scorecard
- ADRs, design reviews, architecture documents authored or reviewed
Best fit
- Multi-year transformations needing a steady external practitioner brain
- Engineering leadership without a dedicated chief architect
- Programmes where the compound across disciplines matters more than any single tower
Out of scope
- Full-time embedded role
- Day-to-day delivery management
- Reactive 24×7 cover
03 · Fractional chief architect / platform lead.
A$48K–72K / month2–3 days/week · 6-month minimum
In scope
- 2–3 days/week embedded with engineering leadership
- Chief Architect / Head of Platform Engineering responsibilities, fractional
- Hiring panel: senior architect and platform-eng roles
- Board / exec engagement on technology strategy
- 4-Discipline Stack substrate programme ownership
Best fit
- Scale-up moving from Series B/C to enterprise-customer-readiness
- Bank/government division standing up modern platform capability for the first time
- Bridging an internal hire (looking now, want someone in the seat next quarter)
Out of scope
- Full-time employment
- People-management headcount >15 direct reports
- Engagements requiring >50% travel
04 · Workshop / masterclass: 1 day on-site.
A$18K–30K / dayon-site (ANZ) or virtual · up to 25 participants
In scope
- One-day intensive on a chosen topic: The 4-Discipline Stack, Regulated GenAI, DevSecOps as Supply Chain, EA-encoded
- Worked exercise using your real systems & constraints
- Per-team scorecard at the end of the day
- 30-day post-workshop email/Q&A follow-up
Best fit
- Engineering leadership offsite
- Platform / architecture team kickoff
- Board / exec briefing on a specific 2026 topic (EU AI Act, supply chain)
Out of scope
- Conference keynotes (see shape 05)
- Multi-day intensives (book two days; second-day rate adjusted)
05 · Keynote / conference talk.
A$10K–25K + travel30–60 min · ANZ / ASEAN / EU / US
In scope
- Pre-cleared talks at /press (4 abstracts ready)
- Custom talk possible with 6+ weeks lead time
- Pre-event briefing call with organisers
- Deck released to attendees post-event
Best fit
- Tier-1 industry conferences
- Closed-room exec / boardroom briefings
- Vendor user-conferences with a regulated-industry track
Out of scope
- Sponsored keynotes for a single vendor’s product (independence preserved)
- Engagements without an honorarium budget — community events handled separately
What a typical engagement week looks like.
Mon
Engineering-leadership stand-in for the architecture function.ADRs reviewed, design questions answered, paving-path decisions captured.
Tue
Programme-level focus.Substrate roadmap progress, cross-discipline alignment, board-pack preparation.
Wed
Engineering co-design sessions.2–3 hours hands-on with platform / data / AI teams on a specific substrate piece.
Thu
Stakeholder cadence.1:1 with CTO / CIO / CAIO. External signals (regulator updates, vendor briefs) digested.
Fri
Written deliverables.Monthly readout draft, ADRs finalised, next-week plan published.
Schedule is illustrative for a retainer engagement at 4 days/month compressed into one week, or a fractional engagement at 2 days/week steady-state. Actual cadence agreed in SOW.
What I don’t do.
Honest scope-outs save everyone time:
- Resell vendor licences or implementation services. Independence is the asset; reseller revenue would compromise it.
- Body-shop or staff-aug. The engagement is me, named, in-room. Not a team of subcontractors invoiced through.
- Generic “digital transformation” scoping without a named outcome and sponsor. Every engagement names an outcome on day one.
- Pure delivery management. Architecture, platform engineering, DevSecOps, data, GenAI — yes. Delivery PM — not the right fit.
- Engagements that can’t be referenced (even anonymised). Permission to talk about the work — with names redacted — is baked into every SOW.
Working preferences.
- Base: Melbourne, AU. Working hours: AEDT, with same-day async cover for EU and ASEAN.
- Travel: ANZ frequently, ASEAN regularly, EU/US 2–3 trips/year.
- Async first: written ADRs and decisions over meetings wherever possible.
- Independence: no vendor commissions, no exclusive partnerships, no resell.
- IP: client retains all client-specific IP. Reusable patterns / templates I author may be sanitised and published openly with client review.
Getting started.
- 01Book a 30-min call — calendly.com/uchit/30min. Bring the problem; we’ll spend the time on whether and how to help.
- 02Within 48h after the call: a one-page SOW with the right engagement shape, scope, fees and start date.
- 03Engagement begins. Weekly written check-ins; outcomes against the agreed scorecard.
Or run one of the six diagnostics yourself first — the result + sector lens is the right conversation starter for shape 01 or 02.