An engagement with Mavrin Labs starts with a strategy session about one real workflow. Mavrin Labs scopes the work only after the team has seen it, the result goes into writing before the build, and the investment follows from that written scope.
How does an engagement start?
An engagement starts with a strategy session, a first conversation you begin by sending an enquiry from this site. You bring one workflow that repeats and irritates somebody every week. The team asks how it runs today, how often it runs, who touches it and what happens when it goes wrong, and you leave with an honest reading of whether a build earns its place.
You commit to nothing in that session. If the hours inside the workflow do not justify a build, you will hear so plainly, which is a better outcome than a project neither side can defend later. The contact page covers what happens after you send one.
What gets agreed before a build
Three things go into writing before any build begins, and you approve each of them.
- The scope
- What gets built, which systems it touches, which steps a person approves, and what sits outside the first version.
- The result
- The baseline, the target in hours back or revenue, how it gets measured, and the date you review it together.
- The investment
- Agreed from the written scope and the agreed result, settled with you directly, and never quoted before the work is understood.
The measurable results page sets out the result agreement in full, including what no builder can control and what happens at the review.
How is the investment set?
The investment follows the written scope, after the strategy session and never before it. Mavrin Labs writes the scope once the team knows the workflow, the baseline and the target, and the investment follows from the work that scope names. You agree it directly with the firm, and it goes into writing alongside the scope.
No figure appears anywhere on this site, for a plain reason. A number published without knowing your workflow would either flatter the simple projects or frighten off the ones worth doing. The honest answer arrives with the written scope, once the work is known.
The order an engagement follows
The order of events is the same for every engagement, and each stage closes before the next one opens. The scope comes out of the first two steps of the work, and the build begins only once you have approved it.
The process page describes the five steps in detail, including what you provide and what you receive at each one.
What an engagement does not include
Some things are deliberately outside every engagement, and it is fairer to say so here than to discover it later.
| What an engagement covers | What it does not cover |
|---|---|
| Building and connecting systems your own people operate | Running advertising or buying placement of any kind |
| Workflows that log, route and draft a response for approval | Answering your enquiries or calls on your behalf |
| The same people through the assessment, the build and the review | A handover to somebody who has never seen the system |
| A written scope with a first version boundary | Open-ended work with no agreed result or review date |
The right-hand column is there because the firm would rather decline work that does not suit it than carry a project nobody can defend at the review. The about page covers how the team is put together and how it works.
Frequently asked questions
What should we bring to the strategy session?
Bring one workflow that repeats, a rough sense of how often it runs, and the name of whichever role does it today. A specification is unnecessary, and so is a shortlist of tools. The session works best as a walk through the real week, because the hours hide in the handoffs that nobody writes down until somebody asks about them.
Who do we work with once an engagement starts?
You work with the same Mavrin Labs team for the whole engagement. The people who assess the workflow are the ones who write the scope, build the system, launch it and measure the result, so the context never has to be rebuilt from scratch. Nobody puts an account manager between you and the people doing the work.
Can we start with one workflow instead of a whole programme?
Starting with one workflow is the normal way in, and usually the sensible one. A single workflow produces a real baseline, a result you can read, and an honest sense of how working together feels, before anybody commits further. If it pays off, the scope for the next piece is written afterwards, using what the first one measured.
How is the investment decided?
The investment follows the written scope, so it comes after the first conversation rather than before it. Mavrin Labs scopes the work once the workflow, the baseline and the target are clear, and you settle the investment against that written scope after the strategy session, never before it. No figure appears on this site, because no figure would be honest before the work is known.
What happens if priorities change in the middle of a build?
Priorities that change mid-build wait for the end of a step rather than interrupting one. Every step closes with something you can see and approve, which is the right moment to stop, reorder the work, or rewrite what remains. The team explains what a change affects before anybody acts on it, and the revision goes in writing.
Does an engagement include advertising or answering our enquiries?
An engagement includes neither advertising nor answering your enquiries. Mavrin Labs runs no advertising of any kind and the site carries no advertising tag, so nothing here counts as an acquisition service. The systems Mavrin Labs builds can log an enquiry, route it and draft a reply, and then a named person at your business decides what gets sent.
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Which hours would you take back first?
Send Mavrin Labs one workflow that is costing you the most time, and the reply comes back by email from the people who would build the fix.
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