MethodHow we work
Listen. Translate. Build.
However the work starts, it runs the same way. We learn how the business really works, agree in plain words on what to build, then build it with you.
1 | Listen
We learn how the business really works.
Whatever brought you to us, the work starts with listening: to you, to the people who do the work, and to what the records and systems actually show. We look at how work moves from one person to the next, which tools get used and which just get paid for, and where the time and money go.
If you came with a project already in mind, this is how we make sure it fits. If you came with a problem you can't name, this is how we find it.
2 | Translate
We turn it into a plan you can check.
What we learn gets written down in plain words, with the source under each finding: a file, a screen, a number or a date. Where a number can't be produced honestly, we write "unknown" instead of guessing. Then each fix is split into what it's made of: the facts it needs, the process around it, the part AI does if there is one, and what stays with people.
Finding 1 of 6
Quotes take four days to go out, and nearly every one waits on the owner. The shared price list stopped matching supplier costs in March, so each price gets rebuilt from memory.
Source: quote log, January to August, a median of 4.1 days from request to sent; price list last edited March 2; supplier invoices since.
Left alone: 38 of 212 requests since January never got a quote.
The fix, by what it's made of
- The facts
- One price list tied to current supplier costs, updated when their invoices come in.
- The process
- Quotes under an agreed amount go out from the office, from the list. Anything over it, or off the list, goes to the owner the same day.
- AI
- Reads requests as they come in by email and voicemail and drafts the quote from the list, for someone to check before it's sent.
- Stays with people
- Discounts, exceptions, and every quote over the line.
Done means: quotes go out within one business day, four weeks running, and the owner only sees the ones over the line.
Findings are ranked by what they cost to leave alone, so the plan says what to build first, what it costs, and what done means. The gap between what an owner wants and what the people doing the work can build is where most projects fail. We sit on both sides of it: the business on one end, systems and technology on the other.
3 | Build
Then we build it.
Most of a working system is the unglamorous part: clean records, dependable software and a clear process, so the same thing happens the same way every time. AI is the smallest piece, used for reading, sorting and drafting, and the judgment calls stay with the people responsible for them.
Before any building starts, the scope and what "done" means are written down. What we build is yours, it comes with the documentation to run it, and it runs without us.
Working together
We meet you where you are.
Some owners want a call and a one-page summary. Some want to see every number. Some want to answer a few questions from their phone when they have a minute. We work the way you already work, and bring your people along at their pace.
Every client also gets a shared record of their business, built as we go: how it runs, what we found, what we decided and why, and what we built. You can open it any time.
Your side
What it takes from you.
- Read-only access to the systems the business runs on. While we're learning the business, we look; we don't change anything.
- Time with you, and with the people who handle each part of the work.
- One person on your side to receive what gets built, so it gets used and doesn't depend on us.
What we don't do
Where the line is.
- We don't sell software or resell AI tools.
- We don't start building before we understand what we're building into.
- We won't recommend AI where a cheaper tool or a simpler process does the job.
- We don't give legal, tax, HR or insurance advice. Where your documents touch those, we report what they say and point you to your own professional.
Questions
Common questions.
Do I need to know what's wrong first?
No. Some people come with a project already scoped, some with a problem they can't name, and some want someone to think it through with. All three start with a conversation.
Do I need to be technical?
No. You know your business. Translating it into systems is our job.
Where does AI come in?
Where the work needs it, which is usually a small part. If a cheaper tool or a simpler process does the job, the plan says so.
Do you work with my kind of business?
Probably. The way work moves through a company carries over from one industry to the next. The specifics of yours, we learn from you, and if it isn't a fit, we'll say so in the first conversation.
Do you work remotely?
Mostly: calls, shared screens and read-only access to your systems. If you're in the Pacific Northwest and would rather meet in person, that works too.
What does it cost?
That depends on the business and the work. You'll have the scope, the price and what "done" means in writing before any work starts.
Start with a conversation.
Tell us about the business and what you want from it. We'll ask questions and say how we'd approach it.