What happens between the first note and the handover.
This is the client path. It is the same shape for a desk review and for a longer cycle. The proposal states which parts apply to your work.
Initial contact
You write with a short description of the operational trouble. We reply in writing, usually with a few questions: which area, who feels it, and what has already been tried.
There is no fee for this exchange. If the work is outside what we do, we say so and we stop there.
Discovery
Discovery is a bounded look at the area you named. We want to see who does the work, what triggers it, where it waits, and what “done” means to the people who receive it.
We use conversations and the documents you already have. We do not install software to watch the team, and we do not ask for access we do not need.
Preparation
Before any build work, we agree the boundary: the routine in scope, the people involved, the cadence, the timetable, and the fee. You receive that as a written proposal.
Work starts when you accept the proposal in writing. Until then, either side can walk away without a charge.
Workflow
We draft the routine with the people who will use it, not only with the person who commissioned the work. Then we try it on live work for an agreed period.
What does not hold is changed. What nobody uses is removed. The workflow stage is finished when the routine has survived contact with a real week.
Delivery
You receive the routine, the supporting notes, and a short walkthrough. The documents are written so your team can edit them later.
Delivery includes a plain list of what was left out on purpose. That list matters: it stops the routine from quietly growing back into a manual nobody opens.
Next steps
At the end we either stop, because the routine is in your hands, or we agree a further cycle or a retained desk. Nothing continues by default.
If you want a second area looked at, that begins again with a written boundary. The first engagement does not expand by habit.