Approach
Diagnosis before prescription
Solvern's method is three steps: diagnose the real problem, deliver a written verdict, then size the fix to match. It runs once for a single decision, like an audit or a design, and every month when we're your IT Manager or vCIO.
The mirror
Why we work this way
There's a classic consulting case study. Tenants in an office building complained the elevators were unbearably slow, and the owners were quoted a fortune to upgrade them. Before signing off, a consultant tried something cheaper first: mirrors in the lobby. The complaints stopped.
Nobody needed faster elevators. They needed something to look at while they waited. The upgrade would have solved a problem that didn't exist, at a price that very much did.
The problem was never elevator speed.
People hate waiting with nothing to do.
Solvern exists to find the mirror.
Sometimes that means a reframe that makes the big project unnecessary. Sometimes it means confirming the big project is exactly what's needed, and the mirror won't cut it. Either way, the money lands on the problem that's actually there.
The method
Diagnose. Verdict. Right-sized fix.
The same three steps on every engagement, in this order, each ending in something you can read.
Diagnose
We establish what's actually happening. Not what's assumed, not what a vendor's proposal says, but what the evidence shows. This is where the real issue turns out to be smaller, bigger, or entirely different from the one on the table.
You get A written picture of what's really going on, and what's causing it.
Verdict
A recommendation in plain language that states what the problem is and what should be done about it. It takes a position: one course of action, with the alternatives costed beside it.
You get A verdict you can hand to a board, a client or a budget owner without translation.
Right-sized fix
The fix matches the actual problem, no bigger and no smaller. Sometimes that's a small configuration change; sometimes it's confirmation the big project should go ahead as planned. On ongoing work, the next month's diagnosis starts from here.
You get A plan sized to the problem, or a clear go-ahead for the one already on the table.
Every kind of engagement
One method, at the rhythm the work needs
Some work is a single decision: an audit, a design, a strategy review. Some is ongoing: an IT function that needs an owner, or a leadership team that needs technology advice. The loop is the same. What changes is how often it runs.
Not sure whether you need a one-off answer or someone who owns it every month? The IT Manager page has a 30-second health check.
Take the health checkVerdicts in writing
What you're handed
A short document written for the person who has to approve the spend, answering their questions in the order they ask them. On a one-off engagement it's the final deliverable. As your IT Manager, the same questions are answered on a page every month.
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The problem, restated
What's actually wrong, in a sentence. Often not what the original brief said.
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The evidence
What we looked at and what it showed, so the conclusion can be checked rather than taken on trust.
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The recommendation
What to do, in what order, and who should do it.
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The options, and what they cost
A range for each, including doing nothing, so the decision is a comparison rather than a leap.
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What not to spend money on
The quote, product or project that won't fix this, and why.
What we don't do
Boundaries that keep the advice straight
Resell hardware or licences
No reseller agreements, and no commission from anyone who has them. We earn nothing on what we recommend.
Pad the scope
An engagement is sized to the problem, and an ongoing role to the days it needs. Neither grows to fill a budget.
Hide findings in jargon
Every verdict is written to be understood by the person paying for it.
See how this applies to your problem
Book a call and describe what's in front of you. We'll tell you honestly whether it needs a project, a mirror, or someone to own it.