Step 03 — Sustain · Performance Architecture Methodology
Performance architecture isn't a one-off fix. It's an annual discipline.
Organisations change. People change. The structural conditions that were redesigned in year one will have evolved - sometimes holding, sometimes drifting, sometimes encountering new friction the original diagnostic did not anticipate. The Performance Architecture Health Check is the mechanism for staying ahead of that.
Once per year. The same structured diagnostic. A new Friction Map showing what has changed - and where the next cycle of improvement should focus.
The Health Check repeats the Diagnostic — so you can see exactly what has changed.
The Performance Architecture Health Check is a repeat of the Friction Architecture Diagnostic, run in the same way twelve months on. Because the structure is identical, the comparison is direct: domain by domain, condition by condition, you can see precisely where the redesign work has held, where it has drifted, and where new friction has emerged.
This is what makes the Health Check different from simply running the Diagnostic again on a whim. It is not a fresh assessment of an unknown system - it is a structured measure of progress against a known baseline. The updated Friction Map is not just a picture of where you are. It is a picture of how far you have come, and where to focus next.
“Structural performance is not a destination. Organisations change, grow, and encounter new friction as a matter of course. The question is not whether new friction will emerge - it is whether you have a mechanism to find it before it compounds.”
For organisations that have completed the Performance Architecture Labs, the Health Check also verifies that the structural changes made during the redesign sprints have embedded, rather than simply assuming they have.
An updated Friction Map. A clear picture of where to focus next.
WHAT EACH SPRINT INVOLVES:
- A full repeat of the Friction Architecture Diagnostic - same twelve structural conditions, same inputs, twelve months on
- An updated Friction Map report comparing current findings against the original baseline - what has improved, what has persisted, what is new
- A revised prioritisation of redesign opportunities based on the updated picture
- A 30–60 minute SLT debrief call to walk through the updated Friction Map and agree the next cycle of focus
Annual structural clarity. At a fraction of the cost of the friction it finds.
The Health Check is priced to make annual structural review a standing part of how the organisation operates - not a discretionary spend that gets cut when budgets tighten.
SME — up to 500 employees
£4,000
Full repeat of the Friction Architecture Diagnostic. Updated Friction Map with year-on-year comparison. 30–60 minute SLT debrief call. Delivered remotely within one week of completion.
Enterprise — 500+ employees
Priced on scope
Enterprise Health Check engagements are scoped to the size of the group and the depth of comparison required.
Twelve months after your Friction Map. Every year thereafter.
The Health Check is designed to run twelve months after an organisation's first Friction Architecture Diagnostic - enough time for the redesign work to have had an effect, and for new friction to have emerged through natural organisational change. For organisations that have completed the Labs, it also serves as a Labs verification.
For organisations considering the Health Check without having completed the Diagnostic first: the right starting point is the Diagnostic. The comparison is only as valuable as the baseline it's comparing against.