Optivem

Software Delivery Transformation

A release that breaks in production isn't just a bug — it's an incident, and it costs you twice. First, trust erodes and clients grow frustrated, putting you at high risk of losing customers — and the revenue they bring. Second, releases slow down, leaving you unable to keep up with market demands or take on new customers.

Make every release predictable — and keep it that way for good, owned by your team.

Current

Target

RiskProtects revenue

Bugs reach production — clients lose trust

Caught before release, by the pipeline

SpeedGrows revenue

Slow releases due to manual testing

Faster, predictable, sustainable delivery

OwnershipCuts cost

No safety net — or a fragile, manual one

A safety net your team owns in-house

How it works

Phase 1 · Roadmap

Output: Architecture design and roadmap for the delivery pipeline and automated system testing.
Value: A clear, efficient plan to automated system testing that replaces manual regression — so you know exactly what it takes to accelerate delivery and cut escaped bugs — instead of finding out through trial and error.
Process: I map your key use cases and system architecture, assess external system configurability, propose the target pipeline and system-test architecture — illustrated on one of your key use cases, showing how an end-to-end test for it, spanning your external system(s), fits within that architecture — and lay out the roadmap to get there most efficiently.

Phase 2 · Architecture Implementation

Output: The pipeline and system test architecture, proven on one real feature from start to finish — so the team can now test that the whole system behaves correctly, the same way for every future feature.
Value: This is the riskiest, highest-value step. It establishes the repeatable pattern that every later feature simply copies — so once it works here, the rest is replication, not invention.
Process: The scope of Phase 2 is determined by the Roadmap produced in Phase 1. I advise your DevOps engineer and/or developers as they implement the pipeline architecture, running a sample smoke test and end-to-end test. I build the system-test architecture — DSL, drivers, and channels — and prove it running on your primary use case, spanning an external system.

Phase 3 · Team Implementation

Output: Your team running the full test-first cycle (ATDD) on their own — without me — and the highest-risk part of your manual regression suite automated, worked in strict priority order through a fixed coaching block.
Value: Manual testing cost drops as coverage grows — and because each new feature now ships already covered, the backlog you're paying down never grows back.
Process: Firstly, I coach your QA engineers to prioritize the manual regression suite and start converting it to automated system tests, while I help your developer(s) extend the DSL and drivers. Secondly, I coach your whole team to implement user stories and fix bugs using ATDD — writing an executable specification, then getting it working — all the way from backlog refinement through to writing acceptance tests and implementing the code.

Timing

Phase 1 ~1 month · Phase 2 ~3 months · Phase 3 ~6 months · about a year end to end. These are honest estimates of the work, not fixed deadlines — a phase takes the time it needs to land properly.

What we need from you

I build the system test architecture myself in Phase 2, then transfer the capability to your team in Phase 3 — so it never arrives as a black box, and the safety net stays owned in-house after I'm gone. Throughout, it needs one sponsor empowered to set priorities, unblock access, and protect the team's time when delivery pressure competes with the build. Beyond that, what I need grows with the work, phase by phase:

Phase 1 · Roadmap. People — the architects and leads who know your key use cases and system architecture, for mapping sessions. Access — visibility into how a release reaches production today; no new repository yet.
Phase 2 · Architecture Implementation. People — a DevOps engineer and/or developer who will implement the pipeline & dockerization (or equivalent) based on my advice. Access — write access to a repository for the new system-test suite and pipeline architecture, plus a way to spin up the system locally to test against, and read access to the system repository.
Phase 3 · Team Implementation. People — your QA engineers to convert the regression suite, a developer to extend the DSL and drivers, and your Product Owner, QA engineers, and developers for ATDD training — including a seat in the backlog refinement meetings where acceptance criteria are written, so the habit is coached on live stories. Access — continued write access to the same system-test repository, and read access to the system repository.

In Phase 2 and Phase 3, I ask for write access to the system-test repository and read access to the system repository. If your developer(s) hit big challenges getting started with ATDD, I may temporarily request write access to the system repository for a while.

Investment

Weigh this against the cost of the problem it removes. A single enterprise client lost to a broken release — or a quarter of delivery too slow to take on new business — already runs well past six figures, and a fragile pipeline charges that toll every year it persists. What follows is a fraction of that, paid once, to end it for good.

Phase 1 · Roadmap: €10,000
Phase 2 · Architecture Implementation: €50,000
Phase 3 · Team Implementation: €40,000

Full engagement: €100,000 all-in across all three phases — billed by phase, stop anytime.

Or commit to all three phases up front: €90,000 paid in full at signing — a 10% saving for booking the whole engagement together. You can still pause or reschedule either way; the trade is only that all three phases are paid and non-cancelable now, rather than funded phase by phase as you reach them.

Every price is fixed up front. Phases are billed in advance — you fund value as it lands, and scheduling is confirmed once the advance payment is received. Prices are valid for agreements signed in 2026, and each phase's price is held as long as it begins within 6 months of the previous phase completing.

Terms, plainly

Non-cancelable — but never wasted. Once a phase is paid it isn't refunded or cancelled — but the engagement can be postponed, delayed, or rescheduled without penalty and with no time limit. If a reorganization, an acquisition, or a shift in priorities forces a pause, your payment waits for you rather than being lost; scheduled payments still fall due as agreed. The risk is managed up front instead — a low-cost Blueprint before any big commitment.
The work is guaranteed; the outcome we own together. I guarantee the quality and rigor of everything I build and coach — and I keep at it until it meets that standard. The results build on that, and they also depend on your side: your team's time, your decisions, and the delivery pressures around them (see What we need). So the quality is mine to guarantee; the outcome is ours to earn together.
Stop anytime, on the staged option. Paying phase by phase, you can end the engagement after any milestone — you keep everything delivered so far, and nothing further is billed. The full-commitment option trades this flexibility for the lower price.
No waiting fee. There's no retainer or reservation charge between milestones — when you're ready for the next one, we schedule it against its advance payment.
Timelines are estimates, not deadlines. The phase durations I quote are honest estimates of the work, not fixed dates you're locked into. If a phase needs more time to land properly, it takes it. And if it comes in early, the next phase starts as soon as you're ready and my calendar allows — you're never made to wait out a schedule.

What's the impact

A bad release stops being a business risk. Defects that cost you trust with buyers and pull the team into days of firefighting get caught before release — not discovered in production.
The capability stays in-house. Your team owns the safety net and the architecture beneath it. The engagement ends by design — it isn't a permanent dependency.