Staff augmentation
The client owns prioritisation, architecture, coordination, acceptance, and outcomes; the provider supplies named skills and capacity.
AI delivery model decision
Is Forward Deployed Engineering just staff augmentation?
No. Staff augmentation supplies capacity under the client’s direction. Outsourcing delivers an agreed scope. Forward Deployed Engineering owns a bounded operating problem and repeatedly connects field learning, implementation, deployment, and outcome evidence.
By Onyx Devs Lab · Published · Updated
Unit of accountabilityCapacity, scope, or operating problem
Learning cadenceDirection, milestones, or field evidence
Exit conditionHeadcount release, acceptance, or outcome handover
The models differ by what the team owns
Job titles and onsite presence do not determine the engagement model.
Outsourced delivery
The provider owns delivery against a defined scope, milestones, and acceptance criteria; changes use an agreed control process.
Forward Deployed Engineering
The team owns diagnosis-to-evidence for a bounded operating problem where requirements must be learned inside the real workflow.
Choose according to uncertainty
Use the lightest model that places accountability where the necessary decisions can actually be made.
Choose staff augmentation
The work is already decomposed, internal technical leadership is strong, and the main constraint is temporary capacity.
Choose outsourcing
Users, workflow, interfaces, constraints, tests, and acceptance can be specified with limited field discovery.
Choose FDE
The valuable problem is known, but data, workflow, adoption, and intervention boundaries must be discovered and tested with operators.
How to choose the accountability model
Name the operating problem
Write the business decision, current baseline, affected operators, constraints, and failure consequence before selecting a staffing label.
Select the accountability unit
Decide whether the provider owns capacity, a specified deliverable, or the evidence loop for an operating outcome.
Define access and cadence
Set field access, decision rights, product and engineering cadence, evidence reviews, and how new learning changes scope.
Contract the transition
State when uncertainty is considered resolved, who receives the system and knowledge, and which model follows after the FDE phase.
Frequently asked questions
Does FDE require full-time onsite staff?
No. It requires close access to the operating environment and fast decision loops. The appropriate mix of onsite and remote work depends on the workflow, data, systems, and users.
Can FDE be fixed price?
A bounded phase can have a fixed commercial envelope, but uncertainty, evidence gates, change rules, and stop conditions must be explicit. A frozen feature list may defeat the purpose.
How is FDE related to consulting?
Consulting may end with a decision or roadmap. FDE continues through implementation and production evidence for the bounded problem.
Can an engagement change model?
Yes. Once uncertainty falls and ownership is clear, FDE should transition to stable product delivery, internal ownership, or managed operations.
Start with one concrete operating problem.
We will first clarify the workflow, evidence, data boundary, and outcome standard before recommending the next step.
Contact Onyx