Paper and spreadsheets
Your operation runs on memory.
The real process lives in a spreadsheet, a chat thread, and someone’s head. We turn it into software you own — then let AI run the repetitive part.
Four versions of the same problem.
The businesses look nothing alike. The bottleneck is always the same one.
Tools that don’t talk
The same order gets typed in three times.
Client work, scattered
Nobody can say what’s due without asking.
An idea, not a product
The idea is clear. Nothing exists yet.
One process at a time. The worst one first.
It’s almost never the whole system that’s broken — and everyone who works there already knows which part is.
The usual way
Map the whole business, build the whole system, launch it at once. Months of cost before an hour comes back.
The lean way
Fix the process that costs the most. It’s in daily use while the next one is still being scoped.
Stage one
Digitize the process
Whatever holds it together today — paper, a spreadsheet, a chat thread — becomes software your team works in and owns.
- A manual workflow, rebuilt as software people use daily
- Two systems that never talked, handing off without re-typing
- An internal tool that shows where the work actually stands
- A web application your staff or your customers use directly
- A product built from nothing, when it doesn’t exist yet
Stage two
Then AI takes the repetitive part
You cannot automate what was never captured. Once the process runs as software it leaves a record, and the record is what AI works on.
- Pulling the data out of invoices and documents
- Sorting incoming requests to the right desk
- Drafting the replies that get written over and over
- Answering plain questions about your own records
- Flagging the exceptions a person should look at
None of this removes people from the operation. It removes typing, copying and chasing from their week.
And if your operation is still on paper, stage two isn’t open to you yet. We’d say so, not sell it.
Every phase ends with something in your hands.
The same five phases run on every engagement, and each one ends with a review you sign off.
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Discovery
We follow the process as it actually runs, with the people who run it — not as it is supposed to run on paper. That is where the lost hours and the repeated mistakes turn up.
What you receive
- A written map of the process as it runs
- The bottlenecks, ranked by hours lost
- A recommendation on where to start
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Requirements & planning
Everything to be built is written down in plain language, split into phases and put in priority order. You approve that document before any code is written, and it is what the work is measured against later.
What you receive
- A requirements document in plain language
- A phased plan in priority order
- What is out of scope, written down
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Design & development
The build runs in the phases you approved. Each one is put in front of you working, not described in a status update — so a wrong turn costs days instead of months.
What you receive
- Working software at the end of each phase
- A link to try it, not a screenshot
- The source code, in your own repository
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QA
Every requirement from phase two is checked against the working build. The test list is written in the same plain language, so you can run it yourself instead of taking our word for it.
What you receive
- A plain-language test list you can run
- A pass or fail against every requirement
- Every known issue, listed before handover
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Delivery
The system goes live, and your team is walked through it on their own work rather than on a demo. Support carries on while the new way of working settles in.
What you receive
- System documentation written for your team
- A walkthrough for the people who use it
- An agreed support period after go-live
Two ways to work. One will fit you.
What changes is how the scope is agreed — not what gets built, or how.
Fixed price
One scope, one deliverable, one cost, all agreed before any work starts.
Fits when
- The outcome is clear enough to write down
- It is one process, one build, or a first engagement
- You need the whole commitment known up front
Not this one if
The scope is still moving — monthly absorbs that better.
What you commit to
A scope that does not move. Anything new is agreed separately.
Monthly
Continuous delivery against priorities you re-set as the operation changes.
Fits when
- The operation keeps changing underneath you
- Several processes will be tackled in sequence
- Improvement and support need to carry on
Not this one if
You want one bounded piece with a known end — fixed price is cleaner.
What you commit to
A cost that does not move. What it is spent on does.
The questions that come next.
Same answers we would give on a call, without the call.
How does a project start?
With one message about the process that costs you the most time. If it is something we can help with, we come back with specific questions or a time to talk. Nothing is agreed until discovery has produced a written map and a plan you have approved.
How long does it take?
One process is usually weeks, not months — that is the reason for taking them one at a time. You get a phased plan with dates before the build starts. We also work on a limited number of engagements at once, so the start date depends on what is already running, and we will tell you what that is before you commit.
What happens when the scope changes?
It usually does. On fixed price the agreed scope does not move on its own: a change is written down, agreed separately, and you decide whether it goes in now or into the next phase. On monthly, changing priorities is the normal way of working — the list is re-set each cycle, so a change costs a place in the queue rather than a renegotiation.
Who owns the code and the data?
You do, both of them. The source code sits in your own repository from the first phase, not in ours. The data stays in systems you control. If you ever stop working with us there is nothing to hand over, because nothing was ever held.
What happens after delivery?
Delivery ends with documentation written for the people who use the system, and a walkthrough on their own work rather than a demo. An agreed support period runs after go-live while the new way of working settles in. After that you can move to a monthly engagement, or come back when something needs changing.
What do you need from us?
An hour or two each from the people who actually run the process, during discovery. One person who can make decisions and sign off each phase. And an honest account of how the work really happens, workarounds included — that last one saves more time than anything else.
Why are there no prices on this site?
Because any figure printed here would be a guess. What a process costs depends on how it runs today, how many exceptions it carries and what it has to connect to, none of which is knowable before discovery. We would rather give you one agreed cost for a scope we have actually looked at than a low number you cannot rely on. You get it before any work starts.
Anything not covered here, put it in your first message.
Tell us where the hours go.
You do not need a specification to start this. A few sentences about how the work runs today is enough for us to say whether we can help.
What happens next
- We read it, and check whether it is something we can actually help with.
- If it is, we come back with specific questions, or a time to talk.
- If it is not, we say so plainly.
We take on a limited number of engagements at a time. If we cannot start soon, we say so in the reply.
Or write to us contact@leanstone.agency
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