Services
How I work
Every engagement begins by working out how the business actually runs, figuring out where things are likely to break, fixing what really matters, and wrapping it all up so the next person taking over doesn’t have to ask. I’ve seen a lot of mess, but the shape of the fix rarely changes.
These engagements typically have three defined offers, each with a fixed scope and fixed fee. I avoid hourly billing: it rewards me for being slow, and punishes me for knowing what I’m going to do.
Internal Systems Risk Audit
This is where I start, but I’m not trying to sell you on a big project. Sometimes an Audit makes sense as the first step, but in most cases, I can directly jump in and rebuild the thing you’re having trouble with. The Audit is an about two-week review of where things are likely to fail.
I’ll look at your spreadsheets, automations, AI tools, scripts, access controls, and SaaS subscriptions, digging into likely failure modes: why something done by hand doesn’t know it’s meant to pull data from another team’s tool; why a spreadsheet doesn’t have access control beyond folders; why nobody checks if that Slack bot has credentials for the production environment since 2023 – or why if they did, they wouldn’t know what to do with them.
The result of an Audit is a clear written risk report and a prioritised fix list. It’s right for when you know you’ve got a mess, but don’t have a starting point – or if things have already broken once, and want to make sure they don’t break again
Workflow Rebuild Sprint
That Audit will tell you what’s broken, and this step then fixes it.
The detail of the Sprint depends on scope – two to six weeks is normal – but the aim is usually to rebuild one to three workflows causing the most pain. This could involve writing error handling, logging, access control, and documenting the process so your team can follow it, from spreadsheet to production.
Sometimes that means converting a spreadsheet into a proper app with a backend and database. Often it means rebuilding an automation to stop it failing silently. I’ll work with your existing tools wherever possible – usually, the tool is fine – but the problem tends to lie in the implementation. It’s right if a specific workflow is continuously causing a pain, or if you’ve inherited something nobody on your team fully understands yet.
Systems Handover Pack
This is insurance against the one person who holds everything in their head.
It’s designed so that, if that person was suddenly unavailable, the rest of the team could still run the business – at least until someone new could be brought up to speed. That means I’ll document everything needed to run things without tribal knowledge: an easy-to-use video-first runbook library (hello, Vimeo), a system diagram, a handful of written SOPs, a working ledger of everyone’s access and credentials, a clean version control strategy, and an AI usage policy or equivalent.
When I’m done, I’ll test it by imagining that a trusted person would come in next Monday, and need to run everything as it is on day one – no questions, no ringing anyone at all. It’s right if a key person is leaving, bringing in a partner or preparing to sell – or if you want the business to run happily without you being available every day.
Questions I get asked
Do I have to start with this Audit? Not always – if it’s a one-off sided rebuild you’re after, we’ll jump straight there. If you’re not sure where to start, the Audit is a great way to get a quick sense of where to focus.
How long do these things take? Audits take about two weeks from our initial kick-off to delivering the final report. Sprints usually take a couple of weeks, depending on scope and depth. Handover packs usually take three to four.
Do you work on retainer? Probably – after our first project, it’ll make sense to keep an eye on things, keep up to date with your AI policy, build small things, and pull regular health reports. But I won’t start with a retainer. With ongoing support, the scope is unknown. It’s worth fixing things that definitely need fixing first, and only then decide if someone needs to be watching out for any future issues.
Is this only for technical businesses? No. Most of the time I work with senior people who aren’t technical. But that doesn’t stop the problems arising – with five people and a couple of years of growth, operational complexity tends to accumulate faster than clarity.
Not sure which one you need?
Tell me what’s causing the most pain right now and we’ll work out together whether an audit, a rebuild, or a handover pack is the right place to start.