Field Notes

Practical writing for product leaders and the boutique advisory firms that rely on them – diagnostic patterns, strategy decisions, document intelligence, and how to operate a sharper consulting practice.

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Consulting Operations

Code Fast, Ship Slow: What Your AI Coding Tools Are Hiding

AI coding tools make writing code feel dramatically faster while what actually ships barely moves. The fix isn't a better tool – it's measuring delivery

5 min read
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Consulting Operations

How Boutique Advisors in Fintech and Healthcare Stay Ahead of Regulatory Change

AI-assisted regulatory-change monitoring for high-value verticals – using verified tooling (privacy: TrustArc; trade/sanctions: Descartes) plus the

7 min read
Teamwork makes the dream work.
Consulting Operations

Boutique Advisory Beats the Big 4 on AI Transformation (4.28 vs 2.78)

Why the buyer evaluating AI-transformation approaches should pick boutique: vendor independence, senior delivery, integrated change management — with the

7 min read
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Consulting Operations

Document Synthesis Is the Leverage Point

Why document synthesis is the single highest-leverage AI capability for boutique advisors.

6 min read
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Consulting Operations

The Knowledge Recreation Tax: How to Calculate Your Number

Knowledge recreation — rebuilding context you already built — is a cost most advisors never calculate. Here's the arithmetic to find your number.

5 min read
A person reviewing handwritten notes at a desk with an open laptop — a consulting work session in progress
Consulting Operations

Why Solo Advisors Max Out at 5–6 Concurrent Engagements

The solo advisor capacity ceiling sits at 5–6 engagements. Here's the working-memory physics behind that number — and the two unlocks that move it.

4 min read
A professional reviewing project documents and a spreadsheet at a desk – representing the live engagement documentation layer that catches scope creep before it becomes scope damage
Consulting Operations

Consulting Scope Creep Is a Documentation Problem

52% of consulting projects hit scope creep, at a 27% average overrun. The issue isn't your statement of work — your engagement intelligence isn't live.

4 min read
A professional in glasses reviewing structured documents at a clean, organized desk with a laptop open beside them
Consulting Operations

How One-Person Advisory Firms Hit 60% Operating Margins

The best solo advisory practitioners aren't working more than their peers. They've solved a structural problem the others haven't — and the margin gap shows it.

4 min read
A senior consultant reviewing a structured synthesis document at a clean desk, focused and unhurried
Consulting Operations

The 70% That Gets You to Your Best Work

There's a 70/30 split in most advisory engagements. The extraction layer is the 70%, and it doesn't require your 20 years. Here's what changes when it moves.

4 min read