Onboarding
From yes to day 1 in two messages
Once the plan fits, starting takes two short messages from your side. It all happens in writing, so your team can read it, forward it and check it later. You don’t need to plan a kickoff session around anyone’s diary.
[1]Two messages
What you send
- [1]
Accept the Order Form
Your decision maker replies to my Order Form email with one line, for example “I accept Order Form AX-OF-0101 for your company”. An e-signature on the PDF works too. If you need the mutual NDA or the DPA first, attach your signed copy to the same reply, and I countersign it the same working day.
- [2]
Confirm access and answer the questionnaire
When the access in the checklist is in place, reply with the account names and your answers to the kickoff questionnaire. Short answers are fine, and every question has a default. I test each access within four working hours and confirm in writing.
[2]The path
Between yes and day 1
- Within one working day of your briefI send the written plan, a pre-filled Order Form and a pre-filled access checklist.
- The day you say yesI countersign the Order Form, plus the NDA and the DPA if you sent them.
- One working day before the startYour technical contact creates the accounts and shares test keys through your secret manager or a one-time link.
- Within four working hours of accessI test every access and ask for anything missing in one grouped message.
- Day 1Work starts on a branch or a fork. The first written update arrives by 18:00 CET.
Day 1 is the start date in the Order Form, or the next working day after the access works, whichever is later. If something blocks you, send it to michael@axdale.com in one line. I answer within four working hours on working days.
Need the plan sooner than one working day? A priority reply costs USD 500 through GitHub Sponsors and reaches you the same working day when you pay by 17:00 CET. The full amount is credited against your first paid invoice. How the priority reply works.
[3]Context
Share as much context as you like
I do my best work when I can see what your team sees. If you can, please send anything that shows the problem from your side. More context means a sharper plan, fewer questions from me and a faster first week.
All of it is optional. The brief alone is enough to start, and you decide what stays private.
- Product docs, runbooks or architecture notes
- Tickets or issues that describe the problem
- Logs, traces or past incident write-ups
- Examples of good and bad output from your agent or model
- A short screen recording, if that is quicker than writing it down
[4]Each week
What you receive each week
- A written update by 18:00 CET every working day. It says what shipped, what is next, what is blocked, the decisions I need from you, the hours used and the risks.
- Every change as a pull request with tests, on a branch or a fork your team owns.
- A weekly report on the last working day, with the status of each acceptance criterion.
- A handover note that says how to run, test and roll back each change.
- After week 1, a written plan for week 2. You decide in writing to go on with paid weeks or to stop.
[5]Documents
The onboarding pack
Your security, legal and finance teams can read these without me. Each one is a PDF and Markdown.
Welcome and Onboarding
The path from your yes to day 1 in two messages, with a checklist of who does what and when.
Kickoff Questionnaire
Written questions with a default for each, so no kickoff session is needed. It also lists the context that helps most.
Access Request Checklist
The least access each system needs, from GitHub and CI to a database replica and LLM keys, and what I never need.
Security Pack
Short answers to the usual vendor security questions, so your security team can review without waiting on me.
Handover and Offboarding
What you receive each week and at the end, how access is removed, and the forms for rights transfer and deletion.
Invoicing and Payment
Weekly invoices, the fields on each invoice, payment options and tax notes for your finance team.
How I Work, Async
The operating manual for the brief, the plan, the daily update, pull requests, review, handover and response times in CET.
Order Form
A short pre-filled order with the scope, acceptance criteria, start date, week 1 terms and hourly rate. Your written reply accepts it.
Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreement
A two-way NDA, version 1.1, with deletion within five working days and a rule for AI providers.
Data Processing Agreement
A short GDPR Article 28 template with the processing details, security measures and sub-processors.
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