Service
Consulting and Advisory
We develop solutions that help people navigate institutions. Consulting is the advisory practice that sits beside the products.
David Hough
Managing Director
David Hough operates at the precise intersection where technology, governance, and human performance converge. He is not a traditional consultant, nor is he a conventional auditor. He is a systems architect who reads organisations the way a master diagnostician reads a body—by tracing the fault lines between what is documented and what actually functions.
Full profile →- 01 Choose a service Press a line for the brief. Send it to the quote tool if it fits.
- 02 Check availability Melbourne weekdays as a sketch — not a booking system.
- 03 Read the band Indicative only. Travel, conflicts, and scope still have to be agreed.
What the work is
Institutional diagnosis. Primary-source evidence. A canonical record that outlasts institutional memory. If it is not written down, it does not exist. If it is written down, it must be verifiable.
The work is to intervene at the point of failure — disconnected data, untested assumptions, governance that prioritises process over people — and build something that holds.
Who it is for
Organisations ready to move beyond spin and into resilience: boards, public bodies, insurers, employers, and the people who have to live with the file those institutions keep.
We are not traditional consultants, and we are not conventional auditors. We do not offer opinions. We offer verified insight. You approve what is sent.
Services
Press a line for the brief
Six ways the practice is scoped. Open one — the quote tool below can pick it up.
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01 Core engagement Institutional diagnosis Map what is documented against what actually functions. Typical 10 days
A structured reading of the organisation: policies, systems, hand-offs, and the places where the file and the lived process diverge. The output is a canonical record — what failed, where, and what would have to be true for the system to hold.
Typical shape. Two to six weeks. Interviews, document review, written findings.
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02 Income protection / disability Claims-file diagnostic Read a declined or stalled file against policy wording, evidence, and process. Typical 5 days
For an individual file or a book of files: date ladder, occupational test, pre-existing clocks, residual versus total, and whether the decline grounds are the clause or a later story. Complements ClaimBuddy; it is not a substitute for a claim decision.
Typical shape. Three to ten days per file, depending on volume of records.
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03 Record that lasts Evidence architecture If it is not written down, it does not exist — design the record so it does. Typical 12 days
How an organisation captures, stores, and retrieves the facts that later disputes will turn on. Chronologies, access paths, retention, and the gap between operational systems and the evidence a reviewer can actually use.
Typical shape. Two to four weeks. Current-state map, target record, first sprint.
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04 IDR, NFO, AFCA Dispute-pathway advisory How the file should look before it leaves internal review. Typical 4 days
Issue cards, not essays. Time limits, onus, and what the office actually reads. South African group IP and Australian super / retail files use different clocks; the advisory names which one you are on.
Typical shape. Two to eight days around a live dispute, or a one-day briefing.
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05 Dual vantage Board and executive briefing Enterprise risk and population health in the same room. Typical 2 days
A closed session for boards, trustees, or executive teams: where the control environment and the human outcome come apart, and what a verifiable record would look like. Not a training product — a briefing.
Typical shape. Half-day or full-day, plus a written note.
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06 When the system broke Failure investigation Trace a crisis or a silent failure to the structural cause. Typical 15 days
High-stakes reading of a break: disconnected data, untested assumptions, governance that prioritised process over people. Findings are written so they can be tested — not a narrative that evaporates when the team changes.
Typical shape. Two to eight weeks. Scope locked before fieldwork.
Availability
Melbourne business days. Weekends and held days are closed. This is a sketch of availability — not a booking system.
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Open Held Closed
Select an open day to see Melbourne slots.
Quote rate
Indicative band
Indicative only. This is a rate-band tool, not a quote, not an offer, and not a commitment to take the work. Travel, conflicts, and scope still have to be agreed.
Base day rate for this session: $2,800 (Australia).
Indicative engagement
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Institutional diagnosis · day rate — · 10 days
Travel and expenses not included
Estimated total: —