The ELIXIR Method
Every ELIXIR project moves through the same five phases. Each one answers a question, and each one leaves you with something concrete before the next begins.
[ WHY ONE METHOD ]
A website, an AI feature and a business-wide change are different kinds of work. The way we approach them doesn't change: understand first, decide before building, and keep refining once it's live.
All ten ELIXIR services follow the same five phases, so the way we work stays the same from one project to the next.
How much each phase involves depends on the project. The phases give it a shape; they aren't a fixed package.
Each phase builds on the one before it, so what was understood at the start still guides what gets refined at the end.
[ THE FIVE PHASES ]
Five phases, in order. Each has one question to answer and one thing to hand over before the work moves on.
Phase 01 of 05
See what matters before you build.
Phase 02 of 05
Give the vision a direction.
Phase 03 of 05
Shape the experience before the code.
Phase 04 of 05
Turn the designed system into reality.
Phase 05 of 05
Keep what matters. Remove the rest.
[ ACROSS THE SERVICES ]
Each service page shows the five phases applied to its own kind of work.
[ WHERE IT STARTS ]
Discern is where every project begins, and the audit is where Discern begins: you tell us what isn't working, and we look at it before recommending anything. The other four phases follow from what that first look shows.
Start the audit[ FAQ ]
It is the way ELIXIR runs every project, in five phases: Discern, Define, Design, Develop and Distill. Each phase answers one question and leaves you with something concrete before the next begins.
Yes. Every project moves through the same five phases in the same order. What changes is how much each one involves, which depends on the scope of the work.
They follow each other in order, but the edges aren't rigid: design questions can surface while defining, and refinement can start on one part of a system while another is still being built. Each phase still finishes with its own outcome.
Yes. All ten ELIXIR services follow it, and each service page shows the five phases applied to that service's own kind of work.
We work out what problem is actually being solved and the context around it. It usually starts with the audit, where you describe what isn't working and we look at it before recommending anything.
In Distill, the fifth phase: once a system is in real use, we keep what serves, simplify what doesn't and set out what to improve next.
No. The phases give every project the same shape, but the scope of each one is set per project. The audit comes first, and it leads to a scoped plan.
[ START A CONVERSATION ]
The audit is the first step of the Method. We'll look at the problem before we recommend anything.
