Approach · five stages, two gates
An engagement runs like the software it produces.
Stages in order, each with a question that must be answered before moving on. The gates are the same kind I build into client systems: nothing moves on intention.
- STAGE 01
Discover
How does work actually move today?
I sit with the people doing the work: who hands what to whom, where decisions happen, what gets re-typed, and what everyone waits on.
You get
- Process walk-throughs
- Pain-point list ranked by cost
- Who decides what
- STAGE 02GATE
Map
What should the system enforce?
The process becomes stages, gates and roles, along with the rules the software will hold so people don’t have to remember them.
You get
- Stage & gate map
- Roles and permissions matrix
- Data model sketch
Gate: you sign off the stage-and-gate map before building starts.
- STAGE 03
Build
Does it fit the way people work?
Short cycles with working screens early. Feedback comes from using the software, not from reading a document about it.
You get
- Working increments
- Seeded demo data
- Reports people asked for
- STAGE 04GATE
Deploy
Is it safe to depend on?
Cloud or on-premise deployment, access control, backups and licensing where it applies. Data is migrated from the old sheets.
You get
- Production deployment
- Backups & access control
- Data migration
Gate: go-live only after backups, access and data migration are checked.
- STAGE 05
Hand over
Can the team run it without me?
Training by role, plain-language guides, and a period of support while the new way of working settles in.
You get
- Role-based training
- Admin guide
- Support window
Good fit
If your work runs on spreadsheets, chats and memory, it can probably run on a system.
- Approvals that happen in chat and are hard to find later
- The same data typed into three places
- Managers asking “where is this?” several times a day
- One person who knows how the spreadsheet works