<aside> 📋 Frequency: Trigger-Based | Time: 60 min | Trigger: At the midpoint of any engagement

</aside>

The midpoint of an engagement is where drift becomes undeniable. Scope has crept, the original problem has evolved, or the client's priorities have shifted — and if you don't surface it now, you'll spend the back half of the engagement working against an unspoken mismatch. This SOP resets alignment, identifies what's working, and gives you the data to have a confident conversation about the engagement's second half.

Prerequisites

• All session recaps and action item logs from the engagement's first half filed and accessible
• Original SOW and any signed change orders on hand — you'll be comparing actual progress to contracted scope
• A mid-engagement review session with the client already scheduled before you run this SOP — this process prepares you for that conversation, not the other way around

Procedure

1. Run the Progress Update Builder skill with the full engagement history — session recaps, completed deliverables, and open action items — as input. Use the output as a structured view of what's actually been accomplished versus what was planned.
2. Compare the progress summary to the SOW. Note any scope additions that were handled informally — work that happened outside the contract but inside your time budget. If significant, this is a Change Order Management conversation.
3. Run the Quick-Win Identifier skill with the engagement context and second-half scope as input. Output: two or three high-visibility actions that can be completed before the engagement closes, reinforcing the client's confidence in the investment.
4. Run the Client Profitability Analyzer skill with your time logged, fees collected, and estimated remaining hours as input. If realization rate is significantly below target, you need to adjust scope, pace, or have a conversation before the engagement ends.
5. Prepare a one-page mid-engagement summary for the client review session: progress to date, second-half plan, quick wins identified, and any scope or timeline flags. This document runs the meeting.
6. In the review session, confirm second-half priorities and surface any misalignment before it becomes a problem. If this is a retainer engagement, this is also the natural window to discuss renewal — see the Retainer Renewal Process SOP.

Expected Outcome

You'll have a documented progress summary, a profitability read, a second-half plan with quick wins prioritized, and a completed mid-engagement review session with the client. Any scope or contract issues are surfaced and addressed — not carried silently to the close.

<aside> ⚠️ Common mistakes:

— Running the mid-engagement review as a check-in rather than a reset — a casual conversation at the halfway point doesn't surface scope drift or profitability problems. You need the data in front of you to see what's actually true.

— Skipping the profitability analysis because the client relationship feels good — client satisfaction and engagement profitability are not the same thing. Discovering at close that you worked 40% over budget on a fixed-fee engagement is a systems failure, not bad luck.

</aside>