Stage 1: Client Intake

Stage 1: Client Intake

Owner: Camille (Client Intake Manager) Blueprint stage: Stage 1 -- Client Intake

Trigger

New client lead arrives seeking a digital talent (from CEO, referral, or marketing).

Pre-Stage: Philippe Routing (Complex / Ambiguous Requests)

Before Camille begins intake, route through Philippe when the request is complex or ambiguous. See routing rule in departments/consulting/process-consultant-philippe/processes/pre-intake-discovery.md.

Route to Philippe first when ANY apply:

  • No clear product definition (scope is "improve X" not "build Y")
  • Existing artifacts to analyze (prototype, legacy system, process docs)
  • New client with undocumented processes
  • Requirements template cannot be filled from current info

Philippe's output (N-033): Requirements Discovery Brief → Camille skips Steps 1.1 and 1.2 below and resumes at 1.3 / 1.6.

Route directly to Camille when:

  • Product type is clear (e.g., enhance an existing deployed talent)
  • Returning client with complete profile and no ambiguity
  • All requirements template fields can be answered without discovery

Inputs

Source What
CEO / referral / marketing Client lead information
Philippe (pre-intake path) Requirements Discovery Brief (replaces discovery session + requirements gathering)
Client Initial business context and pain points (direct path only)

Activities

1.1 Discovery Session

Understand the client organization and their needs: business domain and size, current pain points, existing practices and tools, problems to solve.

1.2 Intake Questions

Organized by category. Product-specific questions are supplemented from the work order definition (if the product type is already known) or from domain expertise.

Domain & Methodology:

  • What domain does this talent serve? (architecture, data governance, compliance, PM, etc.)
  • What methodology or framework do you follow in this domain?
  • Do you have existing tools in this domain? Which ones?

Current State:

  • Do you have existing documentation or artifacts? What format?
  • What are your top 3 pain points today in this area?
  • How are decisions currently made and recorded?

Desired Capabilities:

  • What deliverables do you need most?
  • How do you want to receive outputs? (Confluence, SharePoint, Notion, markdown)
  • Are there specific workflows or processes the talent should follow?

Operational:

  • What language should the talent work in?
  • How many staff will use the talent?
  • What is your documentation platform?
  • Do you have naming conventions for artifacts?

Scope Boundaries:

  • What should the talent NOT do?
  • Are there compliance or regulatory constraints?
  • What is your timeline expectation?
  • What does success look like at 30 days? 90 days?

1.3 Macroscope Decision & Workflow (Conditional)

When: Evaluate during discovery call (after initial context gathering)

Decision: Should a macroscope be created for this engagement?

See the full decision rule and workflow in production-lines/digital-talent/templates/macroscope-workflow.md.

Quick rule: Create a macroscope when ANY apply:

  • Enterprise-wide scope (50+ users or multi-department)
  • Regulated environment (ISO, SOC 2, GDPR, etc.)
  • Complex integrations (3+ systems)
  • Strategic/transformational use case (not tactical)
  • Client operates with architecture governance model

If macroscope is needed:

  1. Walk through the macroscope template during requirements gathering
  2. Elena reviews draft macroscope for completeness
  3. IT Architecture Team approves final macroscope
  4. Move to order folder → Elena consumes during Stage 2 design

If macroscope is NOT needed:

  • Continue with normal intake process (skip to Section 1.4)

1.4 Existing Client Path (Type 2)

When the client already has a profile in production-lines/clients/{client-slug}/:

  1. Pull client context — read profile.md for organization, systems, tools, methodology, language
  2. Skip discovery (1.1) — the client relationship is established
  3. Skip organizational questions (1.2) — focus only on the new product type:
    • What domain does this new talent serve?
    • What methodology applies to this domain?
    • What are the desired capabilities?
    • Any changes to tools, platforms, or conventions since last engagement?
  4. Check deployed talents — read deployed-talents.md to understand what's already in place and avoid overlap
  5. Proceed to macroscope decision (1.3) as normal

1.5 Enhancement Intake (Type 3)

When the client requests changes to an already-deployed talent:

  1. Identify the deployed talent — which talent, where deployed, current capabilities
  2. Delta requirements — what's changing and why:
    • New capabilities to add?
    • Existing capabilities to modify?
    • New integrations or tool support?
    • Methodology or convention changes?
  3. Impact assessment — will the changes affect existing capabilities?
  4. Scope the delta — define what's in/out for this enhancement
  5. Output: Enhancement brief (not a full production brief) handed to Pablo

Enhancement work order template to be defined when first Type 3 request arrives.

1.6 Feasibility Assessment

Consult Elena (EA) and Ada (Patterns) if needed on: capability support, methodology compatibility, tool integration complexity, and potential blockers.

1.7 Scope Definition

Define included/excluded capabilities, skill set scope, support period, and acceptance criteria.

Outputs

Deliverable Format Destination
Production brief Markdown Handed to Pablo
Client agreement Markdown/PDF Handed to Dana
Feasibility report (if needed) Markdown Attached to production brief

Intake Workflow

How to sit with a client and walk through filling in a work order. This is the guided process Camille (or any intake lead) follows during a live session.

Before the session

  1. Confirm the meeting -- schedule 60-90 minutes with the client sponsor. Share a brief agenda: "We'll walk through your needs and define what the digital talent should do."
  2. Prepare a blank work order -- copy the work order template (or start from production-lines/orders/{client-slug}-{product}/order.md). Have it open and ready to fill in.
  3. Pull any existing context -- if this is a returning client, read their profile.md and deployed-talents.md first. Skip discovery questions already answered.

During the session

  1. Start with the business, not the tech -- ask: "What business process does this talent support?" and "What business capability are you trying to strengthen?" Fill in the Business Process and Business Capability fields first.
  2. Identify the people -- ask: "Who will use this talent day-to-day? Who are the consumers of its output?" Fill in Key User Roles.
  3. Walk through the domain and methodology questions (Section 1.2 above) -- fill in Client Profile fields as answers come in. Don't rush; let the client explain their context.
  4. Define desired capabilities -- ask: "If this talent could do three things perfectly on day one, what would they be?" List at least 3 use cases in Section 2 (Product Definition).
  5. Confirm the AI platform -- ask: "Will your team use this in VS Code with Claude Code, in Microsoft Copilot, or another environment?" Fill in AI Platform.
  6. Establish scope boundaries -- ask: "What should this talent explicitly NOT do?" and "Are there compliance or regulatory constraints?" Document in scope section.
  7. Set success criteria -- ask: "What does success look like at 30 days? At 90 days?" Capture concrete, measurable answers.

After the session

  1. Complete the work order -- fill in any remaining fields (language, documentation platform, naming conventions) from notes or follow-up.
  2. Draft the production brief -- summarize the work order into a production brief for Pablo. Include: product type, domain, capability list, scope, and any feasibility concerns.
  3. Send for client confirmation -- share a summary back to the client: "Here is what we captured. Does this reflect your needs?" Get explicit sign-off before proceeding.
  4. File the work order -- save to production-lines/orders/{client-slug}-{product}/order.md and hand the production brief to Pablo.

Quality Gate

Gate: Production brief accepted by Pablo Criteria: Product type identified, domain/methodology identified, 3+ use cases described, scope defined, language confirmed. Evidence: Signed production brief.