What we do
Engagements organised by lifecycle stage, not by service line.
Sigra is engaged throughout a programme's life. Each stage starts from a different question.
Before the design locks
Readiness
Will end users actually be able to use, embed and realise operational value from this capability? What has to change in the design to make that more likely?
For programmes whose design has not yet locked. It tests assumptions about adoption against what end users will actually meet, engaging early to inform programme design and approach. Readiness work maps requirements and dependencies across all Lines of Development.
What the work involves
- Engaging with the delivery team and the military users of the capability being developed to surface where the programme's assumptions about adoption differ from operational reality.
- Translating mission requirements into deliverable technical and business activity, ensuring consideration across all relevant Lines of Development.
- Building continuous end-user input into design decisions and requirements management, rather than capturing it once at the start.
At and after Initial Operating Capability
Transition
Is the programme's definition of done assessing the right things, and are the capability owners and users enabled to realise its benefits?
Transition is for programmes at or past Initial Operating Capability, or the first deployable increment where delivery is spiral. It asks whether the organisation receiving the capability is enabled to own and operate it without remaining dependent on the supplier that delivered it.
What the work involves
- Shaping milestone definitions to drive capability development, not just record programme progress.
- Aligning requirements and activities across all Lines of Development with identified owners, and creating effective handover processes.
- Working with capability owners to create sustainable plans for ongoing capability maintenance and updates.
At any stage
Framing
What operational effect was this investment meant to produce, and how will its success be measured?
Framing connects what a programme delivers to the operational effect the investment was meant to produce, expressed in terms the receiving organisation would recognise and could measure. It looks for a clear line from the mission need to the technology, and to the effect it is meant to produce. The test is whether the people using the capability after handover can see the benefit the programme claimed. It draws on benefits realisation practice, but starts from the operational need rather than the business case.
What the work involves
- Reviewing a programme's benefits case with the SRO and testing whether the benefits claimed are expressed in terms the receiving organisation would recognise operationally.
- Converting a broad mandate, such as getting value from an AI investment, into a small number of measurable questions an SRO can be held to.
- Framing success criteria in mission terms with SROs and capability sponsors.
All three bring disciplines that commercial product management applies as standard: user reality in the design, a named owner after handover, and effect rather than milestone as the measure of done.
What Sigra is not
Sigra works between strategy and programme delivery: close enough to a programme to test what it assumes, without taking on its day-to-day management.
- Not a technology vendor
- Not a programme management firm
- Not a governance or compliance advisory
For Defence technology firms
When the customer has to absorb the product
A Defence technology firm can build a capable product and still see it stall inside the MOD, because adoption depends on the customer changing around it. The three questions above apply to that customer.
Sigra works on the conditions inside that customer, not on procurement, sales or introductions.
What the work involves
- Establishing what an end-user unit needs to see before it trusts a new tool, and what that means for how the product is introduced.
- Translating technical capability into terms a senior MOD stakeholder will act on.
- Delivery and organisational design lessons from growing a data and AI consulting practice from inception to 100 consultants.
Sigra works on what has to change, who is accountable for making it happen, and how anyone will know it worked.