How we work
Every phase ends with a decision.
The sequence bends with the evidence while the handoffs remain visible.
An engagement
Each phase answers a different question.
These five decisions describe the client journey. SHIFT remains the method underneath.
Decision 1 of 5
What behavior should the engagement examine?
- Aim For Behavior
- Turn the brief into an observable action.
- Your team
- Test the definition against real work.
- Evidence in view
- Records, cases, and process artifacts.
- Handover
- Behavior brief and evidence plan.
Decision 2 of 5
Which explanation is best supported?
- Aim For Behavior
- Integrate evidence that distinguishes explanations.
- Your team
- Open access and challenge assumptions.
- Evidence in view
- Interviews, observation, data, and contradictory cases.
- Handover
- Evidence record and working diagnosis.
Decision 3 of 5
What response is worth testing?
- Aim For Behavior
- Connect each design choice to a diagnosed condition and name the expected behavioral signal.
- Your team
- Test feasibility, constraints, and unintended effects before a pilot.
- Evidence in view
- The working diagnosis, intervention options, operating constraints, and practitioner knowledge.
- Handover
- Intervention logic and a testable prototype.
Decision 4 of 5
What must the setting support?
- Aim For Behavior
- Translate the response into roles, routines, tools, approvals, and implementation checks.
- Your team
- Assign owners, prepare the setting, and record adaptations.
- Evidence in view
- Pilot use, implementation observations, exceptions, and feedback from the people doing the work.
- Handover
- Implementation plan, ownership, and measurement setup.
Decision 5 of 5
Did the behavior move, and what should happen next?
- Aim For Behavior
- Review behavior and implementation evidence without treating activity as an outcome.
- Your team
- Use the result and operating context to decide what to continue, change, stop, or reopen.
- Evidence in view
- Behavior measures, implementation records, contextual changes, and unintended effects.
- Handover
- Decision record and next iteration.
Where the work happens
The mode follows what the evidence requires.
Choose the least burdensome way to answer the question.
Remote
Use interviews, screen shares, and artifact review when context remains visible.
In the setting
Use observation when the physical or social environment changes behavior.
Before the proposal
Start with one behavior in one setting.
Tell us who needs to do what differently.