Know your system's limits before launch day does.
I take a small number of fixed-scope advisory engagements, for CEOs, CTOs and engineering leaders with a launch, a modernization or a cost problem in the next three to six months. Each one ends in a written 90-day plan. The Release Risk Diagnostic takes about 2 to 3 weeks at a fixed fee, typically $12,000 to $24,000. I also build: architecture, pipelines and code where it matters.
- 200,000requests a secondThe NFL backend, load-tested to twice the old platform's baseline. It held.
- $1M to $100Ka year in hostingNFL Fantasy Football, after the move to the NFL's own data centers.
- 66%less time to write a testFrom about 60 minutes to about 20 at Ford Credit, with an in-house AI agent. I designed it, and engineers I hired built it.
- 3organizations built from zeroB2B engineering at Jump (founding team of 5), quality engineering at Episource (about 20 people) and Enterprise Testing at Ford Credit. That team of about 60 was formed partly by consolidating testing teams from across the organization.
Where you are
- A launch, a sale or a platform cutover is coming and it cannot fail.
- Start with: Release Risk Diagnostic
- Engineering costs more than it returns. Or releases keep slipping and customers report defects your tests missed.
- Start with: Engineering Operating Model Review
- You are under pressure to show the return on AI in engineering.
- Start with: AI-assisted delivery review
- Hosting, cloud or network bills grow faster than the business.
- Start with: Cloud and infrastructure cost review
What I do
- Build and rebuild engineering organizations
- For companies that have outgrown their engineering team, or need an engineering team for a new line of business. Structure, standards and enablement (training, and frameworks and platforms that teams use on their own), so the team keeps delivering after I leave.Three organizations built from zero. At Episource, all three managers I hired still work for UnitedHealth Group.
- Platforms that hold under pressure
- For launches, seasons, sales and cutovers that cannot fail. Load limits found before the day that matters and stated as numbers. Contract testing (automated checks that services still agree on how they talk to each other) in the build pipeline.A rebuilt backend load-tested to 200,000 requests a second; 7,000 buyers at a time with more than 100,000 queued.
- AI-assisted delivery, measured
- For teams under pressure to show the return on AI. Agents that work out a feature's customer journey, then create the test plans, test cases and automation, with written rules for what they may touch. I measure how long each step takes, before and after the agents.At Ford Credit: the time to write a test down 66%, from about 60 to about 20 minutes, and about 302 engineering hours saved in one quarter.
- Cloud and infrastructure cost
- For bills that grow faster than the business. Hosting, cloud and network use, cut without breaking what customers use.NFL hosting from about $1M to about $100K a year; AWS spend on Ellie Mae's machine-learning pipelines down 60%; Ellie Mae network use cut from 80% to 40%.
The Release Risk Diagnostic
A fixed-fee engagement of about 2 to 3 weeks that starts with a 30-minute call. It ends with a decision: stop with a plan in hand, or continue with an advisory retainer.
You receive five things:
- A ranked list of release risks, each with the evidence behind it.
- Load evidence for the critical path you choose: where it slows and where it breaks, stated as numbers.
- A gap map of contract testing and quality gates across your services and pipelines.
- A 90-day plan with owners and expected effect.
- A one-page summary a board can read.
Ways to work together
Each review has a fixed fee that depends on scope, quoted in writing after the first conversation. Ongoing work continues as a monthly advisory retainer.
- Release Risk Diagnostic
- The five deliverables above and a readout session with your leadership.
- Engineering Operating Model Review
- A current-state map of how work moves from plan to release, where it waits and what each wait costs in hours. Ranked constraints. A draft operating model with roles, governance and KPIs. A 90-day plan.
- AI-assisted delivery review
- A map of where AI can remove work in your delivery process, written rules for what it may touch, how to measure the result before and after, and a 90-day plan.
- Cloud and infrastructure cost review
- A map of where hosting, cloud and network spend grows faster than the business. The cuts that leave what customers use untouched, and what each one saves. A 90-day plan.
How an engagement runs
- A 30-minute call to pressure-test one decision. You describe what you are launching or changing and your biggest worry; I give you my read and a first step. If I am not the right person, I say so.
- NDA and scope. I send a mutual NDA, or sign yours, before I see anything. Scope, deliverables, dates and fee go into a written statement of work.
- The work. I interview the people doing the work before I recommend anything. You name a counterpart and give me read access to repositories, pipelines and dashboards, plus a few hours a week from two or three people. Load tests run in a production-like environment you provide, never in production.
- Readout and handover. You get the deliverables in writing and a readout session, then decide whether to stop or continue.
I work with masked or synthetic data and do not need production personal or health data (PII or PHI). Outside the scope unless agreed separately: production changes, security testing, and personnel or HR advice.
Questions buyers ask
- How is the fee set?
- The Release Risk Diagnostic is a fixed fee, typically $12,000 to $24,000 depending on scope, written into the statement of work before I start. It is not billed by the hour. The other reviews are fixed fees quoted in writing, and the retainer is a monthly fee.
- What do you need from us?
- A named counterpart, read access to repositories, pipelines and dashboards, a production-like environment for load tests, and a few hours a week from two or three people.
- Do you sign an NDA?
- Yes. I send a mutual NDA, or sign yours, before I see anything.
- Do you test in production or use real customer data?
- No. Load tests run only in a production-like environment you provide, and I work with masked or synthetic data. I do not need production personal or health data (PII or PHI).
- What happens after the Diagnostic?
- You decide whether to stop with the plan in hand or continue with an advisory retainer.
- Where do you work, and in which language?
- Remotely from Redondo Beach, California, on Pacific time, and on site in the Los Angeles area by agreement. I work in English and Spanish with teams in the US and Latin America.
- Who is it for?
- A CEO, CTO or engineering leader who needs evidence a board can read. They have a launch, a modernization, a cost problem or a team that has to scale in the next three to six months.
- What is outside the scope?
- Production changes, security testing, and personnel or HR advice, unless agreed separately.
About the advisory work
I work alone, through Lucent Labs LLC, a California limited liability company. The person you talk to is the person who does the work.
I have also consulted part time for a fraud-prevention software company, building the reference GitHub Actions and Terraform pipeline that its new Java microservices follow on AWS. An advisory reference is available on request.
Start with a conversation
Tell me what you want advised on or built. I reply within one business day.
Prefer email? info@antonioalmazzo.com
Prefer to pick a time? Open my calendar
Based in Redondo Beach, California (Pacific time). LinkedIn