Our method
Clarity Is Built Into the Process
We do not begin with fields, flows, or features. We begin by understanding how the business works today, what must improve, and how success will be measured.
No major build begins until the business process, expected outcome, and acceptance criteria are understood.
Six steps
The Fifth Five Method, step by step
Plan
Understand goals, risks, stakeholders, current processes, and constraints.
“What business outcome are we trying to create, and what is preventing it today?”
Activities
- Stakeholder interviews across leadership and daily users
- Current-state process walkthroughs
- Review of the existing org, data, and integrations
- Constraint, risk, and dependency capture
Deliverables
- Stakeholder map
- Current-state process documentation
- Problem statement
- Success measures
- Constraints and risks
- Initial roadmap
- Decision gate
- Leadership agrees on the problem, the measures of success, and the constraints before any design work begins.
- Client involvement
- Executive sponsor plus process owners for interviews and confirmation of the current state.
- Risk prevented
- Solving the wrong problem with more technology.
Define
Convert business needs into prioritized requirements and testable user stories.
“What exactly must be true for this outcome to be achieved?”
Activities
- Requirement workshops with process owners
- User-story writing with acceptance criteria
- Prioritization against outcome and effort
- Explicit decisions on what will not be built
Deliverables
- Prioritized requirement set
- Testable user stories with acceptance criteria
- Scope decisions and exclusions
- Traceability from executive goal to requirement
- Decision gate
- Requirements are prioritized and accepted, and out-of-scope items are recorded rather than assumed.
- Client involvement
- Process owners validate requirements; the sponsor approves priority and scope.
- Risk prevented
- Scope that expands quietly and budget that follows it.
Design
Create future-state processes, architecture, and proof-of-concept experiences before full construction.
“How should the work actually flow once the system supports it?”
Activities
- Future-state process design
- Solution architecture and integration design
- Data model and reporting design
- Proof-of-concept experiences for high-risk areas
Deliverables
- Future-state process maps
- Solution and integration design
- Data and reporting model
- Proof of concept with feedback captured
- Decision gate
- The design is reviewed and approved by the people who will use it and the people accountable for it.
- Client involvement
- Design reviews with process owners and a sample of daily users.
- Risk prevented
- Building something technically correct that no one can work inside.
Build
Configure and develop only what supports the approved design and measurable outcome.
“Does every element being built trace back to an approved requirement?”
Activities
- Configuration and, where necessary, development
- Integration and data-migration construction
- Incremental demonstrations to stakeholders
- Documentation as the work is completed
Deliverables
- Configured solution in a controlled environment
- Integrations and migrated data
- Build documentation and decision log
- Decision gate
- Each increment is demonstrated and accepted before the next begins.
- Client involvement
- Regular working demonstrations rather than a single reveal at the end.
- Risk prevented
- Unrequested complexity that becomes tomorrow's technical debt.
Test
Validate the solution against requirements, real-world scenarios, integrations, and user expectations.
“Does this hold up against the way the business actually operates?”
Activities
- Requirement-based test execution
- Real-world scenario and edge-case testing
- Integration and data validation
- User acceptance testing with the people who will use it
Deliverables
- Test plan and executed results
- Defect log with resolution status
- UAT sign-off
- Decision gate
- Acceptance criteria are met and UAT is signed off before release.
- Client involvement
- Named UAT participants from each affected team.
- Risk prevented
- Discovering the gap between the requirement and the reality after go-live.
Deploy & Adopt
Release responsibly, train users, measure adoption, and improve based on evidence.
“Are people using this, and is it producing the outcome we defined?”
Activities
- Release planning and controlled deployment
- Role-based training and enablement material
- Adoption measurement against the success measures
- Post-release refinement based on evidence
Deliverables
- Release plan and deployment record
- Training material and documentation
- Adoption measurement and findings
- Prioritized post-release improvements
- Decision gate
- Success is declared against adoption and outcome evidence, not against the deployment date.
- Client involvement
- Managers reinforce the change; users provide feedback in the first cycles.
- Risk prevented
- A deployed system that quietly goes unused.
How we measure success
A Better Definition of Done
A Salesforce project is not successful just because it was deployed.
On Time
Clear milestones, visible decisions, and disciplined project leadership.
Within Budget
Prioritized scope, fewer surprises, and a focus on what creates value.
Adopted by Users
A solution that fits the work, earns trust, and becomes part of daily operations.
Ready to see the problem clearly?
Start with a short Clarity Call. We will talk through what is slowing your operation down and what a sensible next step looks like.