- DLC™ Inception Phase overview

Of course, the inception phase must be the most flexible - the beginning of a relationship with a client happens in all sorts of ways, often the client is evaluating a number of different approaches; perhaps the client has approached DLC™ affiliated firm who do not feel they would be the ideal lead team member. there is a near infinite set of possibilities.
However it begins, the aim of the inception phase of a DLC™ project is to have a client who has decided for themselves that they want to go forward with a DLC™ affiliated firm for a feasibility stage. Of course, at this stage, the client doesn't have to sign up to going with a DLC™ approach for the whole project.
However, a DLC™ affiliated firm should always seek to ensure that the foundation of the project is sound so that it can be carried forward under a DLC™ approach. If the project (or the client) is for any reason explicitly not suited for the DLC™ approach, then this should be made explicit to the client.
At the same time, there should be no attempt to 'sell' the client on the DLC™ approach. It will benefit no-one if the client is not a fully willing participant in a process they feel they have understood well.
Key elements of the Inception phase are:
Getting to know the client
This is fundamental. Although DLC™ is not as all-embracing an approach as Partnering - it does not require or expect the client to become a team member (one of the reasons that Partnering generally has  traction only with large repeat clients, often publicly funded) - one of the principal expectations of the DLC™ approach is that the client should experience increasing levels of confidence as the project progresses. For this to happen, the team must understand the client, and the client must know the team fairly well.
Also, as DLC™ intends to be relevant when working with 'naive' clients, knowing the client well is important in arriving at a clear view of the brief, which may be imprecise or somewhat superficial at this stage. Although full brief testing is undertaken in the Feasibility phase, early understanding of the project is obviously valuable.
Team building
It is not necessary to assemble a full team at this stage; however, an aim of the Inception phase must be to put together the key members of a team that can undertake a thorough Feasibility phase. At the barest minimum, there will be a contractor and some sort of designer, but there may well be others, as necessary.
Agreement will be needed as to roles and responsibilities, contractual arrangements etc. At this stage, with smaller projects, the typical arrangement will be for a design firm to agree a fee and deliverables with the client, and agree sub--contract fees with other team members. This sets up a single point of responsibility and is legally simple. For larger projects, a joint venture may be set up for the Feasibility Phase.
As and when DLC™ becomes more widely known, it will be possible for the team builder firm to provide a number of choices for the client to select from for the relevant roles.
Phase 2 Proposals
Client approval for Phase 2