The Operations Blueprint · the first step, and it’s not about AI
Find out what your workflow is actually costing you, before you buy anything to fix it
We map how your work runs, put a dollar figure on where it’s leaking, and hand you a ranked plan of what to fix first. Sometimes that’s an AI agent. Just as often it’s a process change or wiring up a tool you already pay for, and we’ll tell you that even when it means not selling you a build.
Fixed fee, from $1,500. About half comes off the build if you go ahead, and the plan is yours either way.
Because the free version is a sales pitch with a different name
A free assessment is scoped to find the problem that agency already sells the fix for. Being paid for the diagnosis is the only way we can honestly tell you the answer is a $50/month tool and a changed hand-off, not a project.
You’re not buying a proposal. You’re buying a costed, prioritized plan you own, whether or not you ever work with us again.
Sounds like you if…
- “I know we’re wasting time somewhere, but I couldn’t tell you where or what it’s worth.”
- “Everyone keeps telling me I should automate this. I don’t want to buy the wrong thing.”
- “We tried a tool for this already. It didn’t stick, and now nobody trusts the next idea.”
- “We’ve doubled our volume and the way we work stopped scaling six months ago.”
What you get
Four deliverables. Each one is a thing you keep.
-
A map of how the work really runs
Who touches it, in what order, in which system, including the steps that only exist in someone’s head or a spreadsheet. Usually the first time anyone’s seen the whole thing on one page.
-
What it’s costing you, in numbers
Volume × time, error and rework rates, cycle time, fully-loaded cost, as honest ranges with our confidence marked where we’ve estimated. It’s also the yardstick for anything we build later, so nobody moves the goalposts.
-
A ranked list of fixes, each tagged with the kind of fix it needs
Every opportunity comes back labelled, with a rough return and effort band:
Tag Means Redesign The process itself is the problem. Fix it before automating anything. See the build → Automate Wire your existing tools together so the work flows without re-keying. See the build → Tool Adopt, replace, configure or connect a system. See the build → Agent There’s real judgment, language, or unstructured input here. An agent earns its keep. See the builds → Leave it alone This process is fine. Changing it would cost more than it returns, and we’ll say so in writing. -
A phased roadmap
What to do first, what to do next, and why, plus a written recommendation. Delivered as a short written report and a walkthrough call, not a 60-slide deck nobody reads.
How we do it
Five steps over about two weeks. Nothing here is a workshop for its own sake.
-
Step 1
We agree the scope in writing first
Which processes are in scope, who needs to be in the room, what we need read-access to, and what you get at the end. One page, before any money moves. “While you’re here, could you also look at…” is how a diagnosis turns into open-ended consulting, so we fix the boundary at the start.
-
Step 2
We talk to the people who do the work
Not just the managers. We need whoever owns the outcome, whoever does the work daily, and whoever receives it downstream.
Managers describe the process as it is supposed to work. The people doing it describe what actually happens: the shadow spreadsheet, the copy-paste between two systems, the step that only works because someone remembers to email Dave. The gap between those two descriptions is where most of what you’re losing lives. Workarounds are the finding, not an embarrassment.
-
Step 3
We map it top down, then go deep only where it hurts
We frame the whole process at altitude first, then the major steps in order, then the detail only where it hurts. That keeps a real process mappable in a day instead of a quarter, and it is why we bound this to one to three processes.
We quantify as we go: how often, how long, how many times it comes back, what it costs at a loaded rate. You will be able to tell which numbers we measured and which we inferred.
-
Step 4
We do the analysis after the room, not in it
Every opportunity gets sized: what it’s worth, what it takes, how feasible it is, and how confident we are. Then they get ranked against each other by return versus effort, so the roadmap has an order rather than a list.
-
Step 5
You get the report, and we walk you through it live
Within about a week. A written report, presented on a call rather than emailed and abandoned: the map, what it costs you today, the ranked opportunities, the phased roadmap, and the assumptions we made along with the data we would still want.
The report is built to work without us. If you handed it to another builder it would still be useful. That is the test we hold it to, and it is what you paid for.
What we need from you: about an hour each with the two or three people closest to the work, read-access to the systems involved, and whatever numbers you already have. If you don’t have numbers, that is normal, and it is usually one of the findings.
What it isn’t
What’s included
- One to three named processes, mapped end to end
- What each costs you today, as ranges with confidence marked
- A ranked list of fixes, each tagged with the kind of fix it needs
- A phased roadmap and a written recommendation
- A walkthrough call, and the document is yours to keep
What’s not
- Building or implementing anything (that’s the build, priced separately)
- Writing automations or agents
- Migrating systems
- Running a change-management rollout
- Your whole business at once. The one-to-three bound is deliberate
The Blueprint is diagnosis and a roadmap you own, not delivery. Depth is the product here, not breadth.
What it costs
Two tiers, fixed fee, CAD.
Focused
From $1,500
One process: map, baseline, roadmap.
Best for: you already know which process hurts.
Standard most people
From $2,500
Two to three processes, fuller roadmap.
Best for: you know something’s wrong, not where.
Whatever we quote you is the fee. “From” means complex engagements are scoped higher before you agree to anything, never billed higher afterwards.
What you get, guaranteed
Every process you name comes back mapped end to end, with what it costs you today in time and money, and a clear recommendation tagged redesign, automate, tool, agent, or leave it alone. If any process you named doesn’t come back that way, you don’t pay. You keep the Blueprint either way.
About half of the fee is credited toward a build you start within 60 days. No obligation to build with us. Plenty of clients take the roadmap and do it themselves, and that’s a fine outcome.
How it fits
-
Free discovery call 20 min
We work out whether the Blueprint is even worth it for you. Sometimes it isn’t, and we’ll say so.
-
The Operations Blueprint
Map, cost, rank, recommend.
-
The build if you want one
We deliver the fix the Blueprint named, agent or not. Roughly half the Blueprint fee comes off.
-
Run only where it applies
For anything we operate, we tune it and report what it did every month. If it isn’t paying off, we keep working on it.
Questions people ask
- “Why not just start building the thing I already know I need?”
- Sometimes that’s right, and we’ll say so on the free call. But automating a broken process makes the mess faster, and buying the wrong tool is the mistake this step exists to prevent.
- “Is this just a sales call with a bill attached?”
- No. The free call is where we decide if it’s worth doing. The Blueprint is a paid deliverable with a written report. Different things, deliberately named differently.
- “What if you just recommend your own AI builds?”
- Every recommendation comes tagged redesign, automate, tool, agent, or leave it alone, and often the first one isn’t an agent. When it’s a process or integration fix, that’s a real build we deliver too. We don’t need your problem to be AI-shaped.
- “Is this what other people call a workflow audit?”
- Roughly, yes. We just don’t call it that. An audit checks whether you’ve done something wrong. This works out what your business is losing and what to do about it. Different job, different tone.
- “How long does it take?”
- Usually a couple of weeks from kickoff to walkthrough. Getting time with the people who actually do the work is the main thing that speeds it up or slows it down.
- “What do you need from us?”
- An hour each with the two or three people closest to the process, read-access to the systems, and whatever numbers you have. If you don’t have numbers, that’s normal, and it’s usually one of the findings.
Stop guessing which fix to buy
Get the Blueprint and you have a costed, ranked plan you own. Or start with a free 20-minute call and we’ll tell you honestly whether it’s worth it.