Hello, and thank you for your interest in Doc Frank’s services.
There is no one-size-fits-all, so depending on your personal preferences you can look below at either my formal or more informal service offer. Or you read both if you want to go really crazy.
Doc Frank’s Formal Services Offer
Since founding the business in 2011, Doc Frank’s main activities have been in the three categories below:
Specialist Engineering Consultancy for modern high-performance signalling and control systems.
Project Management Services for railway projects of all sizes (including project review and assurance).
Training and Assessment services to increase my clients’ understanding of modern signalling.
Doc Frank’s Informal Services Offer
Okay, if you ended up reading down here you probably prefer to be addressed like a normal human being, or a friend, over reading well-articulated phrases of how wonderful this company is. Happy to oblige.
Past versus Future
The formal services offers listed above have one thing in common: They are based on what I have done for my customers in the past. This has the benefit that I have proven to do those things, but the downside is that you may not know how good I match YOUR specific problem in the future. If you bothered to check me out a bit (my LinkedIn profile is VERY comprehensive) you will have seen that due to a very wide exposure to different types of railways and roles, I can provide you with heaps of perspective. I have seen a lot during my career, have a qualified view on pretty much anything you can throw at me, and – importantly – I have the confidence to let you know clearly if I do not know the answer to your question. (I may be able to find out for you, though.)
Getting ‘frank’ advice
What you will always get from me when we work together is an honest, ‘frank’ (pun intended) view based on my substantial experience and perspective. This can be communicated as diplomatic as you need it to be, but it will not be distorted or falsified for sugar-coating purposes. I respect that my customers are entitled to make the decisions that best fit their circumstances as they see it, but I do make sure they know the likely consequences of their decisions and therefore can make them ‘with open eyes’. They usually like it that way.
This mode of my operating has attracted a large variety of clients, some for very short interactions (say, an ‘eye-opening’ phone call or an intense burst of an adhoc task), most for many years of flexibly available on-demand consultancy. Most recently I have done a lot of work with project reviews and lessons-learned implementation, and gained a sound knowledge of why railway projects can go wrong and what can be done about it. I chaired and presented at conferences, facilitated workshops, mentored groups and individuals, and, and, and…
Does your problem suit me?
This is not to I say I can do everything. I will let you know without the shade of a doubt if I’m not the right person for your job and list a few examples below where your contacting me would just waste your time:
- Don’t ask me to run a small business-as-usual signalling project for you (for example, $100k upgrade of a level crossing protection system). I’m not interested and would therefore suck at it.
- Don’t consider me for conventional signalling design tasks – there are many people out there who could do this much better at much lower fees.
- Don’t expect me to travel to foreign places just because your project team meeting has to be in the middle of a rain forest jungle (and video conferencing is futuristic nonsense to you).
- And please understand that I cannot sit in your offices for 40 hours per week over extensive periods of time. That would badly let down my other clients, which is not my game.
Here is what you can do
Still reading? Good. Now, you hopefully agree with me that dating is a better idea to start a relationship than signing a pre-nuptial based on nothing but a short ad on paper and a photo. So here is my offer to you for finding out if I may be a good fit to solving your problem. Fill in the contact form below where you briefly explain what you may consider me doing for you. A bit of context would be nice, too, but spare your valuable time and effort to write me a novel.
I will then do one of these two things, promise:
- I will either thank you for your enquiry and tell you that I’m not the best person to help you. If I can, I will also point you to someone who I think is more likely to be a good match for your problem.
- I will thank you for your enquiry and establish a suitable time for a phone call, half hour max unless we really hit it off, where we can get to know each other better, improve my understanding of your problem and your understanding how I could help you solving it, and also see how we get along in general, communication style and all.
There is no downside for you
Both options above are absolutely free for you (except for your time on the phone which I promise will be worth your while in one way or the other), and there is no obligation whatsoever for you to proceed with procuring my services. I understand there are procurement rules you have to follow, and you know how you can make me play within those rules if you really want me to have a shot at your problem.
Sounds fair? Great, then fill in the form below and get in touch. I can’t wait hearing from you as I love new challenges.
Best,
Doc Frank
