The framework · v0.1

STAGE

Studios Taxonomy and Guided Execution

Different projects.
One shared delivery system.

Draft for discussion · 16 September 2026 · UneeQ Studios

A · Kinds of project

We don’t do one
kind of project.

  1. Create It does not exist yet.
  2. Migrate Move it without breaking it.
  3. Extend Connect it to X, or put it on channel Y.
  4. Optimize Make the live thing better.
  5. Explore Is this possible, and worth pursuing?

B · The lifecycle

Every one of them
runs the same phases.

Phase 1 of 8

Assess

Should we take this, and as what?

Goal

Decide whether to take the work, and as what type and size.

Goes in
  • Request or opportunity
  • client and account context
  • commercial intent
  • any RFP or brief
  • known constraints
Comes out
  • Project Shape — type, size, outcome hypothesis, T-shirt estimate, top three risks, reuse candidates, go/no-go recommendation

Phase 2 of 8

Define

What are we solving, for whom, and how will we know?

Goal

Agree the problem, the audience, the outcome, and how success will be measured.

Goes in
  • Project Shape
  • stakeholder map
  • existing content and knowledge sources
  • brand guidelines
  • client tech landscape
Comes out
  • Project Brief
  • Scope Map
  • Knowledge Sources
  • Success Measures
  • risk and assumption log

Phase 3 of 8

Design

What exactly are we building, and can we?

Goal

Decide the experience and the architecture well enough that Build does not have to guess.

Goes in
  • Project Brief
  • scope map
  • knowledge map
  • constraints
  • client system documentation and API specs
Comes out
  • Persona
  • Conversation Design
  • Architecture
  • Integration Agreement per external system
  • Quality Targets

Phase 4 of 8

Build

Does it exist and work?

Goal

Produce a working solution in short increments with visible progress.

Goes in
  • Design pack
  • architecture
  • estimated backlog
  • environments and credentials
  • content and knowledge sources
Comes out
  • Working increments in a shared environment
  • evaluation trend, not a one-off score
  • updated backlog and change log
  • draft Runbook
  • test evidence

Phase 5 of 8

Validate

Is it good enough for real people?

Goal

Generate the evidence that this is good enough to put in front of real people.

Goes in
  • Built solution
  • Quality Targets
  • NFR targets
  • UAT participants
  • security and privacy requirements
Comes out
  • Quality Report against thresholds
  • UAT sign-off
  • performance results
  • Go-Live Checklist
  • written risk acceptance for every known gap

Phase 6 of 8

Deploy

Is it live, and does someone own it?

Goal

Get it into the world, and into someone's hands.

Goes in
  • Readiness checklist
  • runbook
  • comms plan
  • client team ready to be trained
Comes out
  • Live solution
  • final Runbook
  • Handover
  • training completed and attended
  • analytics dashboard live

Phase 7 of 8

Operate

Is it getting better and creating value?

Goal

Turn live usage into improvement, and improvement into demonstrable value.

Goes in
  • Live analytics
  • conversation transcripts
  • user and stakeholder feedback
  • support tickets
  • client roadmap ambitions
Comes out
  • Value Review pack — metrics against baseline and target
  • prioritised improvement backlog
  • released increments
  • refreshed evaluation baseline
  • renewal or expansion recommendation

Phase 8 of 8

Close

What did we learn and what can we reuse?

Goal

Bank the value for the next project, and end cleanly.

Goes in
  • Everything produced
  • team memory while it is still fresh
  • commercial actuals
Comes out
  • What We Learned
  • retro actions with owners and dates
  • updated estimating benchmarks
  • case-study input
  • clean commercial and access closure

C · One system

Every kind of project runs all eight.
What changes is the emphasis.

D · Emphasis

One lifecycle.
Different emphasis.

Same eight phases every time. What changes is how much of each.

Select a project or a phase.

  • Tall most of this project’s effort
  • Short a light pass
  • None not run for this kind of project

5 kinds of project · 8 phases · v0.1, for discussion