An ongoing monthly retainer held against an active engagement scope. The same principal at the rail between formal sprints, with reserved bandwidth for the questions a multi-entity operator doesn’t want to wait ninety days to ask. Used by principals whose structure has settled into a steady cadence and want the advisor on retainer rather than on a calendar invite.
A fixed-scope project engagement, twelve-week default. Begins at kickoff with a written brief, lands at handoff with a written artifact — positioning narrative, remediation memo, succession memo, channel map, or whatever the practice area in question produces. The deliverable is always a document the principal can hand to the next operator without translation; the engagement resolves inside one quarter.
Advisory / consulting hours purchased in blocks against a defined scope. Principal-on-call by appointment, used for diligence support, board-packet reads, capital-event counsel, or a short structural review that doesn’t justify a full project sprint. The format mirrors how a principal already works with their outside counsel — by the question, written down, on a known cadence.
Every engagement begins with a short introductory call to read the operating layer and decide which format fits. Retainer is chosen when the principal wants continuity across the structure — the same advisor on the rail between the formal sprints, with reserved bandwidth for the questions that surface between them. Project is chosen when the work has a defined shape and a defined deliverable: a positioning narrative, a remediation memo, a succession memo, a channel map, sequenced over a twelve-week window from kickoff to handoff.
Advisory is chosen when the work is short, episodic, and structural — diligence support for a capital event, a board-packet read ahead of a quarterly meeting, counsel through a transition, or a brief review of an operating seam that doesn’t justify a full sprint. The format mirrors how a principal already works with outside counsel: a defined scope, hours against it, written notes at every step.
Across all three formats the deliverable standard is the same — written, principal-led, sequenced against the actual sector rather than a packaged template. Retainer clients receive monthly notes tied to the active engagement scope. Project clients receive the kickoff brief, the working memos, and the final document at handoff. Advisory clients receive a written read after each block. Engagements begin with a single message to the address below; the principal reads every submission and replies within two business days with the format she recommends and the way it is sequenced.
Engagements start with a single message. Include your sector, the entity count, and the format you’re considering — Retainer, Project, or Advisory. The principal will reply within two business days with the format she recommends and the way it is sequenced.
Include the sector, the entity count, and the first deliverable you have in mind. The principal reads every submission and replies within two business days.
Begin an engagementpdt-global-consulting-llc@polsia.app