Services

Service / Path	What it is	What you get	What I need from you	Limits / disclaimers
Quick Triage (Async)	Short review via form/email for fast direction.	Risks/gaps + recommended direction + next-steps checklist.	Goal, current setup, constraints, timeline, links/diagram (optional).	Advice only. No configs. No access. No SLA. Availability-based.
Second Opinion	Time-boxed call to pressure-test your plan.	Live feedback + action list afterwards (bullet points).	Same as above + your current plan/diagram if you have one.	Advice only. No implementation. No ongoing support.
High-level Design Outline	A slightly deeper, still-lightweight design summary.	Assumptions, target state, trade-offs, phased plan, “what good looks like”.	Clear scope (in/out), constraints, success criteria.	Only offered case-by-case; not guaranteed; no configs.
CPD Collaboration	Interesting problems I may take on for CPD.	Deeper architecture notes + decision log; optional anonymised case study.	Why it’s interesting, scope, success criteria, timeline flexibility, case-study permission.	Not guaranteed. No urgent deadlines. No ops/on-call. No access. May pause/stop if scope expands.

Quick Triage

For when you want fast direction without a meeting. You send a short overview (goal, current setup, constraints, timeline) and I’ll reply with the main risks/gaps, a recommended direction, and a practical checklist to move forward.

Best for: sanity-checking an approach, identifying “gotchas”, and deciding what to do next.

Second Opinion

A time-boxed discussion to pressure-test your plan live. We’ll walk through your current idea, the constraints, and what “good” looks like. Afterwards, you’ll get a concise action list so you’re not left with vague vibes.

Best for: decisions with trade-offs (e.g., segmentation, resiliency, identity model choices) where talking is faster than typing.

High-level Design Outline

A lightweight design summary for situations that need a bit more structure than triage. I’ll capture assumptions, target state, key decisions, trade-offs, and a phased plan you can execute (or hand to a team/vendor).

Best for: small-to-medium designs where you want a clear written direction, but not a full consultancy engagement.

CPD Collaboration

Occasionally I take on interesting, clearly scoped, non-urgent problems as part of CPD. These are selected based on fit and time. If accepted, I’ll go deeper on architecture and decision-making, and with permission anonymise outcomes into a case study.

Best for: unusual constraints, edge cases, or designs that are genuinely interesting and have learning value.

Areas I cover

Network design & review (segmentation, routing, resiliency), platform engineering patterns (CI/CD, golden paths, guardrails), security & identity guidance (IAM, least privilege, Zero Trust), on-prem architecture thinking (HA, capacity, backup/DR), and operational readiness (runbooks, incident readiness, observability gaps).

What I don’t do

I don’t implement changes, write configs, or take direct access to your environment. I don’t provide emergency support, ongoing operations/on-call, or SLAs. If you need delivery, I can still help you shape a plan you (or your team/vendor) can implement safely.

Terms

I do this as CPD / for fun / as a hobby, alongside a full-time job. That means my availability is limited and can change week to week. I may take a while to reply, I may pause part-way through if work/life gets busy, and I may decline requests even if they’re interesting. If you have a deadline, need guaranteed turnaround, or require ongoing support, this won’t be the right channel.