For small businesses & operations teams — discovery to handoff

A clear route from messy workflow to documented automation

Here's exactly how an engagement runs: map your workflow, design the automation, build it, train your team, hand you the keys. Built for small businesses and operations teams that need to know what happens before, during, and after implementation.

01 — The implementation route

The process moves forward when the relevant owner can review something concrete.

Five steps, each with an exit artifact

  1. Map

    Document the trigger, handoffs, tools, decisions, exceptions, owner, and current manual route.

    Exit — Workflow map and open-question list

  2. Design

    Choose the lightest suitable platform and specify outputs, guardrails, review gates, failure behavior, and acceptance tests.

    Exit — Proposed delivery contract and implementation route

  3. Build

    Connect the agreed systems, implement validation, and test normal, boundary, and failure cases.

    Exit — Working automation and acceptance evidence

  4. Train

    Walk the people who operate the process through approvals, exceptions, routine changes, and escalation.

    Exit — Team walkthrough and operating notes

  5. Handoff

    Transfer the agreed access, documentation, and responsibilities. Monitoring and support are only included when the scope says so.

    Exit — Runbook and responsibility boundary

02 — AI readiness & route planning

Readiness means the process has enough definition, ownership, access, and examples to test safely.

Not every bottleneck needs AI

We examine

  • Whether the process is stable enough to automate
  • Where deterministic rules are better than a model
  • Which actions require human approval
  • What data and system access are actually available

The result of discovery

If a route is viable, the proposed scope identifies the build boundary, inputs, outputs, review gates, failure paths, dependencies, exclusions, and commercial terms. A separate paid diagnostic or free route-plan deliverable is not promised until the owner defines that offer.

03 — Change & support

Written into the scope, not implied by the phrase “ongoing support.”

The handoff boundary is part of the design

Who monitors failures, who can change a rule, how long support lasts, and what happens after handoff are written into the scope.

  • Named process owner
  • Acceptance conditions
  • Defined support boundary

Start with the process before selecting the platform.

A useful first conversation covers the current route, failure cost, available access, and the person who can approve a new way of working.