Bitware Labs Est. 2022

Bitware Labs/Engagement

How engagements work

The lab is one person. That sets the shape of everything below: what can be taken on, how fast, and what is honestly better placed elsewhere.

Three shapes

§ 01 — Scope

Most work is one of these, or an audit that turns into a build.

Audit

Quoted per engagement ask and you get a number, not a discovery call

A read of what you already have.

  • Infrastructure, security posture, or an AI system already in production
  • Written findings ranked by what actually bites first
  • Every finding reproduced before it is reported
  • Fix list you can hand to someone else — no lock-in

Build

Quoted per engagement ask and you get a number, not a discovery call

The work itself, done by the person you wrote to.

  • Agents and memory systems, infrastructure, security, software
  • Handed over documented and runnable by one person
  • Your hardware where it should be, your accounts, your data
  • No subcontracting, no account manager in the middle

Retainer

Quoted per engagement ask and you get a number, not a discovery call

Someone whose job it is when it breaks at 02:00.

  • Monitoring, patching, backup verification, incident response
  • Hosting on dedicated iron, built by hand
  • A standing block of hours for changes
  • Cancellable monthly — it should hold on merit

Rates depend on scope and on how much of the estate is already in a state worth building on. Describe the problem and you will get a figure back, not a questionnaire.

How it actually goes

§ 02 — Process

You write, I answer

Not a form to a sales queue — the same inbox that gets everything else, read by the person who would do the work. Replies come within two working days, in English or Swedish. If it is not something I should take, you will be told that in the first reply rather than the third meeting.

Scope in writing, before anything starts

What is being built, what is explicitly not, what I need from you, and what it costs. Short enough to read in one sitting. If the shape of the problem is still unclear, that is what an audit is for — and an audit is a fixed fee, so the uncertainty is mine rather than yours.

Work in the open

You get access to what is being built as it is built — repository, staging, or the running system. No monthly status theatre, no progress you cannot verify yourself. If something is going badly you will hear it that week.

Handover that actually hands over

Documented, on your accounts, on your hardware, runnable by someone who is not me. The test is simple: could a competent engineer take this over without calling? If not, it is not finished. Retainers exist because people want them, not because the handover left a gap.

What to expect either way

§ 03 — Terms in plain words
  • i.
    No subcontractingThe person you correspond with is the person who writes the code. Nothing is passed to an agency you never agreed to.
  • ii.
    Your accounts, your infrastructureDomains, servers, registrars and API keys in your name from the start. Nothing is held hostage by an offboarding process.
  • iii.
    Data stays where it shouldLocal-first by default. If something must go to a third-party API, you are told which, why, and what leaves the building.
  • iv.
    Confidentiality as standardClient work is not written up here without permission. An NDA is fine; a mutual one is usually simpler.

Some work is better placed elsewhere.

Said early, so nobody's time gets spent finding out slowly:

  • WordPress sites and plugin work. Not hosted here and not built here — the reasoning is written up. Specialists exist and are better at it.
  • Anything needing a team. If it genuinely requires four engineers by next quarter, one person is the wrong answer no matter how good the quarter goes.
  • Staff augmentation by the month. Work is taken by scope or by retainer, not as a seat in someone else's sprint.
  • Growth-hacking and scraping people. Data pipelines yes; harvesting personal data for cold outreach, no.

If it is one of these, say so in the first email and you will get a straight answer plus, where I know one, a pointer to someone who does it properly.

Correspondence

Write to the lab

Commissions, collaborations, or a quiet hello. The person you write to is the person who does the work — I reply within two working days.

henke@bitwarelabs.com

Use the contact form How engagements work