FIELD · Handbook · 5 min read
The FIELD assessment kit
A practical workshop agenda, decision pack and reusable operating templates.
Arunank Sharan · Kuzushi Labs ·
In this article
Use these records directly in an engagement. Keep a single source of truth and link to evidence rather than copying the same numbers across presentations. A small project can combine the records into one document; larger work can separate them while preserving identifiers.
Run a five-day diagnostic
| Day | Work | Customer participation | Output and decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outcome, alternatives, baseline and readiness | Sponsor, workflow lead, representative operator | One-page outcome contract; pursue or redirect |
| 2 | Observe tasks and map exceptions | Operators, domain expert, data owner | Workflow and data register; first journey |
| 3 | Probe identity, access and one end-to-end path | Technical owner and relevant reviewers | Feasibility evidence; resolve critical blockers |
| 4 | Compare options, capacity and economics | Delivery lead, finance/value owner | Bounded scope and scenario model |
| 5 | Review acceptance, delivery and ownership | Decision owner and required reviewers | Fund build, revise, hold or stop |
Five days is a diagnostic timebox, not a guarantee that customer access or specialist approvals finish within it. If the decisive uncertainty remains unresolved, the deliverable is a clear finding and next decision, not a fabricated completion.
Template 1: outcome and readiness
Engagement / version / date:
Customer population and workflow:
Current baseline / source / confidence:
Target and decision date:
Eligible task denominator:
Alternatives, including process change or no build:
Critical conditions that must remain true:
Sponsor / workflow owner / technical owner / operating owner:
Access, budget and procurement readiness:
Biggest unknown / owner / due date / decision consequence:
Next experiment / time and spend cap / stop condition:
Template 2: workflow and integration inventory
Trigger → inputs → steps → decisions → business receipt:
Active effort / elapsed waiting / rework:
Routine cases / exceptions / abandoned tasks:
Source owner / permitted purpose / sensitive fields:
Identity and authorization scope:
Freshness / revisions / deletions / lineage:
API/network limits / timeout and retry behavior:
Human escalation queue / capacity / service target:
Probe performed / result / artifact / remaining unknown:
Template 3: scope and commitment
Included journey / users / entities / languages:
Explicit exclusions and forbidden actions:
Workload envelope and service targets:
Deliverables and acceptance criteria:
Customer dependencies / named owners / due dates:
Staffing / milestones / decision checkpoints:
Cost basis / fee basis / usage exposure / payment terms:
IP, data, accounts and support responsibilities:
Change process and escalation:
Exit, export, deletion and transition obligations:
Template 4: requirement and evidence ledger
| Field | Example planning entry |
|---|---|
| Requirement ID | AUTH-01 |
| Claim | No correction without a valid approval |
| Criticality | Critical; no economic offset |
| Owner | Finance process owner |
| Mechanism | Scoped approval bound to action and revision |
| Test | Expired, revoked, altered and replayed approval cases |
| Acceptance | All listed cases blocked before external effect |
| Evidence | Pending test run; no production claim yet |
| Configuration/scope | Release candidate, one entity, named operators |
| Expiry/invalidation | Policy, connector, action or identity change |
| Decision | Hold write access until evidence is reviewed |
Add links to raw artifacts, measurement methods and limitations. For a measured result, record the denominator and collection time. “Pass” without the supporting artifact and scope is not an adequate entry.
Template 5: release decision
Decision requested / owner / date:
Population, exposure and allowed actions:
Required evidence and current status:
Critical failures or unknowns:
Quality, effort, cost and recovery results:
Limitations / accepted residual risk / authority for acceptance:
Rollout steps and stop/rollback triggers:
Operating owner / support / reconciliation queue:
Decision: investigate / pilot / expand / revise / hold / stop
Next review and evidence invalidation triggers:
Template 6: value and operating review
Period / configuration / eligible population:
Eligible tasks / attempts / verified completions / abandonment:
Baseline minutes / interaction / review / fallback effort:
Realized use of freed capacity and evidence:
Service cost / support cost / build allocation:
Quality and latency by relevant subgroup:
Incidents / unknown outcomes / queue age / recovery results:
Adoption friction and user feedback:
Variance from plan / action / owner / due date:
Continue / change scope / expand / retire:
Template 7: change and ownership
Requested change / reason / requester:
Options: exchange scope / add milestone / defer:
Effect on outcome, cost, date, risk and operating burden:
Requirements and evidence invalidated:
Decision owner / reviewers / decision / new baseline:
Handover asset / customer owner / access verified:
Operator exercise / outcome / remaining dependency:
Support end or renewal / recurring obligations:
Reusable component / permitted boundary / second consumer:
Export, revocation, retention and retirement test:
A weekly decision meeting
Spend ten minutes on customer outcomes, ten on evidence and failures, ten on dependencies and changes, and ten on decisions. Send the evidence links in advance. Every unresolved item leaves with an owner and date. A session that produces only status updates has not completed the decision work.
The downloadable kit includes editable Markdown records and all 36 worked applications. The workbench provides a local-in-browser economic worksheet and prerequisite check; it does not store customer information or issue release approval. Use the reference register when adapting the method for your own organization.