When the problem is unusual enough
that you’re not sure who to call.
Short, high-intensity engagements for leaders facing consequential infrastructure problems that don’t fit the usual categories.
Something strange is happening. It might be technical, organizational, regulatory, or some uncomfortable combination of all three. Your normal channels are either too narrow, too slow, or too political to help. You need someone who can sit with the problem honestly, think it through with you, and leave you with a clearer set of options than you started with.
That’s what Proper Tools is for.
Engagements start at a half-day · €5,000/day
What the work looks like
Most engagements begin with a short conversation about what’s actually going on. If there’s a genuine fit, work is scoped narrowly and moves quickly — decision-ready artifacts in days or weeks, not months.
The shapes the work tends to take:
Short engagements on unusual problems
A half-day to a week of focused attention on a specific question that doesn’t fit a standard consulting template. Technical depth where it’s needed, plain language throughout.
Deliverable: a clear memo, a decision framework, or a set of defensible options — whatever shape the problem actually needs.
Confidential sounding board
A standing, MNDA-covered monthly engagement for senior security and infrastructure leaders who need a thinking partner outside their reporting chain. One to two hours per month, plus reasonable async availability.
No slides. No deliverables. No reporting back to anyone. You are the client — not your organization. Structured, confidential conversation with someone who understands the weight of your role.
Executive & board briefings
Tailored briefings that translate complex risk into language leaders can act on: rollover timelines, cyber-physical dependencies, regulatory interfaces, the evolving standards landscape.
Deliverable: shared mental model, practical risk register outline, defensible next-step options.
Facilitation & convening
Workshop design and facilitation for rooms where smart people disagree and something needs to move forward. Trey has facilitated in international standards bodies, government institutions, corporate leadership settings, and on film sets.
Trained in ICA’s Technologies of Participation (ToP) methods. Pursuing IAF Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF) designation.
Deliverable: structured dialogue, decisions captured, clear path forward.
Fractional advisory
Part-time embedded advisory for leadership teams navigating continuity risk, technical translation, and governance clarity — without adding headcount. Typical engagements run 2–4 days per month.
Deliverables: prioritization frameworks, defensible communication, decision-ready documentation for governance and regulators.
Standards & policy alignment
Guidance on rollover risk in relation to NIS2, DORA, CRA, and standards work across FIRST, ITU-T, and IETF.
Deliverable: coordination clarity, defensible governance posture, evidence-ready documentation.
Expert witness & technical testimony
Neutral technical expert services for legal proceedings involving systemic infrastructure risk or timing-related failures. Available as testifying expert or through referral to qualified specialists.
Research & observatory collaboration
Contribution to research on systemic dependencies, time synchronization, and rollover risk observability. Focused on durable work that remains useful beyond news cycles.
How this works
Engagements are intentionally small and focused. The goal is not analysis that sits on a shelf — it’s clarity that leaders can act on.
When a problem requires broader expertise, Proper Tools coordinates with trusted specialists across security, infrastructure operations, governance, and standards communities. The network is real; we help one another.
- Hard failures are often preceded by long periods of legibility failure.
- Shared maps matter more than individual certainty.
- Cross-sector dependency is where small technical issues become strategic problems.
- Good coordination leaves behind evidence, not just impressions.
Rates. Work is priced at €5,000 per day, stated upfront so both sides can focus on whether the work is a genuine fit rather than performing a negotiation. Engagements typically start at a half-day of focused work.
Rates may be adjusted for unusually consequential or public-interest work. Paying client work enables the publication of CC-BY research, frameworks, and tools intended to accelerate ecosystem-wide remediation.
Standard MSA and NDA available on request.
A short conversation first.
Some of the best engagements begin with someone saying: “Something strange is happening here, and we need a second brain to think it through.”
If you’re facing a problem that feels unusual, consequential, or difficult to explain, reach out. Describe what’s going on in your own words — no NDA needed for a preliminary conversation. If it’s not a fit, I’ll say so directly and point you somewhere better if I can.
Open project: assembling a small vetted reviewer group for a CC-BY 30-minute executive briefing workshop on 2038-class time risk. If you routinely brief leadership audiences and want to help pressure-test the framing before release, get in touch.