Spectral Engineering | Terms
Engagement terms for spectral engineering services. Governed by the systemic.engineering License (SEL). Anti-extraction, consent architecture, duty of care.
These terms govern consulting engagements with Alex Wolf through the systemic.engineering practice. They are structural commitments, not negotiable variables.
The systemic.engineering License (SEL) is the governing framework. These terms inherit from it. Where these terms are silent, the SEL governs.
1. What I provide
Spectral Engineering services. This includes: spectral installation and configuration, grammar training, organizational topology measurement, communication graph analysis, compliance architecture, and the systemic practice that informs all of it.
I work with professional care. I do not guarantee outcomes. I guarantee structural commitments.
2. What you provide
Access to your codebase, infrastructure, and team sufficient to do the work. A point of contact with decision authority. Timely responses to access requests.
If you cannot provide access, I cannot provide the service. Delays caused by access gaps do not constitute my failure to perform.
3. Consent architecture
All observation is disclosed. I will tell you what I observe, at what frequency, for what purpose, and who has access.
All offers are genuinely declinable. If I propose an intervention, you can say no. If I recommend a structural change, you can decline. No cost for refusal. No penalty for silence.
Silence is not consent. I will not interpret non-response as agreement, approval, or authorization for any action that affects your team.
Consent can be withdrawn. At any point. For any reason. Withdrawal is not breach.
4. Anti-extraction
My cognitive labor is not harvested. Engagement-specific deliverables are yours upon payment. My methods, frameworks, models, and the spectral runtime remain mine. Where my background IP is embedded in your deliverables, you receive a non-exclusive, perpetual license for internal use.
Your data stays with you. spectral runs on your infrastructure. The runtime does not transmit your data to me or to any third party. Observation data collected during the engagement belongs to you.
I may publish anonymized learnings derived from the engagement. No names, identifiers, or proprietary details. You may opt out of future publication at any time by written notice.
5. Duty of care
I accept a duty of care toward downstream users of any system I help you build. This duty tracks Section 3 of the SEL.
By engaging me, you accept the same duty. If a system we build together harms downstream users through violation of the SEL's conditions -- anti-extraction, consent, protection of the witnessed, structural justice -- liability follows the SEL.
This is not aspirational. It is structural. Read the license.
6. Data protection
Both parties comply with applicable data protection law. In the EU, that means GDPR. Where required, a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) will be concluded.
spectral is local-first by design. Your data does not leave your infrastructure unless you choose to share eigenvalues with the garden at garden.spectral.engineer. Eigenvalue sharing is optional, disclosed, and revocable.
7. Visibility tiers
Three tiers govern all information produced during and about engagements. These are consent boundaries, not access levels. Crossing a tier without consent is a violation of the SEL.
Public. Freely shareable. The open source code. Free pieces on the blog. Aggregate statistics (e.g. savings counter). Graph topology visible during live events. Nothing client-specific is ever public without written consent.
Protected. Trusted context. Show analyses. Field logs. Process documentation. How decisions were made. Available to paid subscribers. Shared with engagement clients where applicable. All protected content is curated by both Alex and Reed before release. Either has veto. No client-identifying information enters the protected tier without explicit written consent.
Private. Explicit consent required per instance. Client-specific data. Engagement observations. Topology measurements of your team. Never shared. Never aggregated. Never used for training outside your engagement. Stays on your infrastructure.
During an engagement, I see:
- Topology: yes. That is the service.
- Communication content: no.
spectralis local-first. Content stays on your infrastructure. - Eigenvalues: yes, during the engagement. That is the measurement.
After an engagement:
- Eigenvalues are deleted from my systems unless you opt in to contributing them to the garden. Opt-in is revocable.
- Anonymized structural learnings may be published in the protected tier. No names, no identifiers, no proprietary detail. You may opt out at any time by written notice.
8. Rates and payment
Rates are provided on request and confirmed in writing before work begins. Reduced rates may apply for engagements of three months or longer.
Invoicing: monthly. Payment: within 14 days of invoice date. Pre-approved expenses billed at cost.
9. Engagement shape
Work commences upon written confirmation (email sufficient) of a start date and initial scope.
Typical engagements run 4-12 weeks. Either party may terminate with 14 days written notice. Immediate termination is possible in case of material breach.
Termination does not affect accrued payment obligations. All work performed through termination date is payable.
10. Liability
I perform services with professional care.
Liability exists for intent and gross negligence. For simple negligence, only for breach of essential contractual duties. Total liability is capped at fees paid in the preceding three months.
This limitation does not affect liability to downstream users under the SEL.
11. Boundaries
This work is not psychotherapy, medical care, or legal advice.
I may suspend or terminate work immediately if the engagement becomes coercive, if consent cannot be maintained, or if you request work that violates these terms or the SEL. Suspension under this section is not breach.
12. Governing law
German law. Venue determined by mandatory law. Amendments require written form (email sufficient).
These terms describe how I work. They are not a menu. If these constraints cannot be met, no engagement is possible.
