> Start with a fixed-scope assessment. Understand where change is safe before modernization begins.

# How We Work

We don't start with code. We start with understanding.

Every engagement begins with a fixed-scope assessment. Starting modernization without knowing where change is safe — especially around data, security, and core workflows — is how teams create outages, audit issues, and expensive rollbacks.

Phase 1

## AI Modernization GUIDE Assessment

Before implementation accelerates, we evaluate whether your engineering system can contain failure, preserve knowledge, direct agents, and prove correctness.

- • **Governance**: where the system limits how far a failure can spread
- • **Understanding**: how institutional knowledge is built, maintained, and kept current
- • **Intent**: whether specs, tests, documentation, and conventions are actionable by agents
- • **Direction**: where humans set priorities, constraints, and outcomes before agents execute
- • **Evidence**: what proof lets humans and agents trust the system

Outputs include a system risk map, test confidence evaluation, and modernization pathways.

[Learn about the Assessment →](https://www.defmethod.com/assessment)

Phase 2

## Guided Modernization

After the assessment, we help you execute — safely and incrementally.

- • Scope informed by assessment findings
- • Incremental change under defined safety constraints
- • Knowledge transfer to your team

Available only after completing an Assessment

## How we reduce risk before we change anything

- • We identify unsafe areas before proposing change
- • We earn access incrementally
- • We isolate risk before touching critical paths
- • We design rollback before deployment

## What we don't do

- ✗ Feature delivery before system conditions are understood
- ✗ Projects where speed is prioritized over safety
- ✗ Staff augmentation
- ✗ Greenfield builds or MVPs

> "We trusted them to deliver data necessary to identify fraud. Orum is reliant on these reports for business-critical functions. In the future, Def Method would be my top pick."

Emily Pirnack
Head of Product, Orum

> "I have used Def Method for 5 different efforts at two different companies because I know I can count on them for high quality work."

Dave Zaretsky
CPO, Elias Sports Bureau

## Ready to get started?

If breaking things is expensive, the first step is understanding where change is safe.

[Start with an Assessment](https://www.defmethod.com/assessment)