Creating an Engagement
Understand engagement types and how they relate to personas. Learn the bidirectional filtering system that ensures you generate only relevant artifacts.
What is an Engagement?
An engagement is the top-level container for a project or consulting work. It holds all your captures (Slack threads, emails, meeting notes, documents) and all artifacts generated from those captures (SDDs, ADRs, RSDs, integration specs, etc.).
When you create an engagement, you specify an engagement type. This type acts as a filter that determines:
- ✓ Which personas can work on this engagement
- ✓ Which artifacts each persona can generate
- ✓ Safety checks that prevent inappropriate artifact generation
The Five Engagement Types
Each engagement type is designed for a specific kind of work. Choose the one that best matches your project:
🏗️ Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE)
Hands-on implementation and technical consultation work. You're designing systems, making architectural decisions, integrating services, and deploying solutions.
Available Personas:
Use case: You're building a new platform, migrating to microservices, redesigning a system, or implementing new infrastructure.
🔍 Architecture Review
System design evaluation and recommendations. You're assessing an existing (or proposed) architecture to identify improvements, risks, and optimization opportunities.
Available Personas:
Use case: You're reviewing a client's system design, assessing scalability, identifying technical debt, or planning modernization.
🔓 Penetration Testing
Security assessment and vulnerability testing. You're conducting authorized security testing to identify weaknesses and security gaps.
Available Personas:
Use case: You're performing a security audit, finding vulnerabilities before go-live, or validating security controls.
🚨 Security Incident Response
Post-incident investigation and remediation. You're responding to a security breach or incident, documenting findings, and creating a recovery plan.
Available Personas:
Use case: You're investigating a security incident, documenting the timeline, root cause, and remediation steps.
✅ Compliance Audit
Regulatory and compliance assessment. You're evaluating systems and processes against compliance standards (SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, etc.).
Available Personas:
Use case: You're preparing for an audit, documenting compliance controls, or assessing readiness for certification.
The Bidirectional Relationship
The relationship between engagement types and personas works both ways:
Direction 1: Engagement Type → Available Personas
When you create an engagement and select a type, the system filters the available personas to only show those qualified for that type.
Example:
You select: Architecture Review
Available personas become:
- ✓ FDE
- ✓ Solutions Architect
- ✓ Enterprise Architect
- ✓ CTO
- ✗ Penetration Tester (not qualified for Architecture Review)
- ✗ Cyber Responder (not qualified for Architecture Review)
Direction 2: Persona → Applicable Engagement Types
When you (as a user) know your role/persona, this tells you which engagement types you should choose.
Example:
You are: Enterprise Architect
You can work on these engagement types:
- ✓ Forward Deployed Engineering
- ✓ Architecture Review
- ✗ Penetration Testing
- ✗ Security Incident Response
- ✗ Compliance Audit
How Artifacts Get Filtered
After you create an engagement with a type and start generating artifacts, the system applies a three-layer filter:
Layer 1: Engagement Type
Only artifacts applicable to the engagement type are shown. Example: If your engagement is "FDE", you'll never see "Post-Incident Review" (which is Security Incident Response only).
Layer 2: Persona Selection
Only artifacts that the selected persona can generate are shown. Example: "Penetration Tester" can generate "Threat Model" and "Security Assessment", but not "SDD" or "ADR".
Layer 3: Intersection (Type + Persona)
Only artifacts that satisfy BOTH conditions are shown. This prevents cross-type pollution and ensures you can only generate relevant outputs for your engagement.
🔐 Safety Guarantee
An FDE engagement can NEVER generate a "Post-Incident Review". An Architecture Review engagement can NEVER generate "Integration Specs". The system prevents inappropriate artifact combinations at the API level.
Step-by-Step: Creating Your Engagement
Step 1: Open the Create Engagement Modal
Step 2: Select Your Workspace
Step 3: Name Your Engagement
- • "Q3 Platform Migration"
- • "Security Assessment - ClientCo"
- • "HIPAA Compliance Audit"
Step 4: Choose Your Engagement Type (⭐ Critical Step)
Select the engagement type that matches your work. The form will show you:
- ✓ A description of when to use that type
- ✓ The personas qualified to work on this type
⚠️ This choice is permanent. You cannot change the engagement type after creation. Choose carefully!
Step 5: Create
Quick Reference: Persona-Engagement Matrix
Use this table to understand which personas work with which engagement types:
| Persona | FDE | Architecture Review | Pentest | Security IR | Compliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FDE | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Solutions Architect | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Enterprise Architect | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| CTO | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Penetration Tester | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Cyber Responder | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Read this as: "Enterprise Architect can work on FDE and Architecture Review engagements" (check row = persona, check ✅ column = engagement type).
Common Questions
Q: Can I change the engagement type after creating an engagement?
No. The engagement type is immutable (permanent) to prevent data corruption and ensure your captures stay aligned with the engagement's purpose. If you chose the wrong type, create a new engagement with the correct type.
Q: Why can't Penetration Testers see SDD artifacts?
SDDs (System Design Documents) are applicable only to FDE and Architecture Review engagements. Penetration Testers work on Penetration Testing engagements where the relevant artifacts are Threat Models and Security Assessments. This filtering prevents artifact-type mismatches and keeps the system clean.
Q: Can an Enterprise Architect work on all engagement types?
No. Enterprise Architects are qualified for FDE and Architecture Review engagements only. They cannot work on security-focused engagements (Penetration Testing, Security Incident Response) or compliance audits.
Q: What if my engagement doesn't fit neatly into one type?
Choose the primary type. The system is designed to handle typical engagements. If your work spans multiple types (e.g., architecture review + security assessment), create separate engagements for each specialization and cross-link them if needed.
Q: Who can see the available personas in the artifact generation modal?
When you open an engagement and click "Generate Artifacts", you'll see only the personas applicable to that engagement's type. The modal pre-filters the persona list based on your engagement type choice.
Summary
- ✓ Engagement Type = the kind of work (FDE, Architecture Review, Penetration Testing, etc.)
- ✓ Personas = the roles qualified to work on that type
- ✓ The relationship is bidirectional: type → persona AND persona → type
- ✓ Artifacts are filtered by both engagement type AND persona selection
- ✓ Engagement type is immutable after creation — choose carefully
- ✓ The system prevents inappropriate combinations (e.g., Security Incident Response artifacts on an FDE engagement)
Next Steps
Now that you understand engagement types and personas: