Three engagements, each with a written deliverable.
Every one of them answers the same question in a different amount of depth: what is this system actually asking for, and what should happen next?
Scope, price, and turnaround are confirmed in writing before any work begins. If your problem is outside what this practice can honestly help with, you get told that instead of a proposal.
Synaptic Concept Review
For: a difficult product, technical, process, operational, repair, or invention problem that is still scattered or unclear. This is the place to start.
You do not need a polished pitch or a finished prototype. You need a real problem and a willingness to have its assumptions examined.
- The problem, as plainly as you can state it
- The environment it has to work in
- The user — who touches it, and under what conditions
- The constraints: cost, size, weight, time, skill, safety, regulation
- The mission, or the outcome that would count as success
- Any sketch, photo, prototype, process note, or existing material
- The underlying problem beneath the obvious request
- A user, environment, constraint, and mission map
- A system map and the interfaces that matter
- Contradictions, assumptions, and the missing questions
- Promising concept branches, separated and described
- Recommended next actions and specialist-handoff needs
Rapid Design Architecture Sprint
For: a more involved concept or system that needs a clear architecture before research, prototyping, engineering, partner discussions, or funding conversations.
This is the version that produces the object other people work from — the one an engineer, shop, developer, or program manager can react to line by line.
- A deeper concept architecture
- A user and operating-environment model
- A functional system map and diagrams
- The key design trade spaces and constraints
- Risks, unknowns, and validation questions
- A practical next-step and handoff packet
- Getting a scattered concept into one coherent shape before spending on hardware
- Giving a specialist team an organized starting object instead of a wish list
- Preparing a concept for a funding, partner, or procurement conversation
- Deciding, on evidence, that a direction is not worth pursuing
Existing-Concept Stress Test
For: a product, prototype, process, mechanism, or plan that already exists but may carry hidden assumptions, missed interfaces, unresolved contradictions, or unexplored branches.
The goal is not to tell you the plan is wrong. It is to find the questions the plan has not been asked yet, while changing course is still cheap.
- A structured outside review
- An assumption and contradiction check
- Interface, service, and maintenance questions
- Alternate concept branches
- A prioritized next-question list
- A prototype that works on the bench and keeps failing in use
- A process everyone has stopped questioning
- A design freeze that feels premature but nobody can say why
- A second opinion before a large commitment
Project submissions are reviewed within 2 business days. Consultations begin at $1,000 with a 5-business-day turnaround, excluding weekends and US federal holidays. Submission does not guarantee acceptance.
You will be contacted at the email you provide with either an acceptance and scheduling step, or a brief explanation if the project falls outside the current scope of practice.
Limitations. V Hallock is not a licensed professional engineer, and Mechanicus Magus Consulting is not an engineering firm. The practice does not offer professional engineering services, stamped or sealed drawings, code or regulatory compliance work, certification, safety validation, or construction-ready or production-release designs. It does not provide legal advice or patent legal opinion.
Work delivered here is conceptual and exploratory: framing, analysis, documentation, concept architecture, and physical prototypes intended to inform a decision. Anything moving toward built, sold, or safety-critical use should be reviewed and approved by a licensed professional engineer or other qualified specialist.
Not sure which one you need?
Send the problem as it actually is. Sorting out which engagement fits is part of the first conversation, and it costs nothing.