Longer pieces on how automation actually works
Teardowns, cost models and the things we have learned the expensive way. Written for people who have to make the decision, not for search engines.
What twelve common business automations actually cost to build and run
A line-by-line breakdown of the twelve automations small businesses ask for most: what each involves, what we charge to build it, what it costs to run monthly, and roughly how many hours it gives back.
Teardown: the supplier invoice workflow, step by step
The complete anatomy of an invoice-processing automation — all nineteen steps, every validation rule, every failure branch, and the four decisions that determine whether it works or quietly corrupts your ledger.
Why automations break: a taxonomy of failure
Nine distinct failure modes, ranked by how often we encounter them and how much damage each one does. Plus the design patterns that convert the dangerous silent failures into loud, safe ones.
The exception problem: why automation projects overrun
Exception logic is usually the majority of the engineering and almost none of the estimate. Why "except when…" is where projects die, and how to surface yours before anyone quotes.
What we refuse to automate, and why
Six categories of work we will not build, even when a client asks and the money is on the table. Including the one we get asked for most and turn down every time.
The automation readiness checklist
Twenty-four questions to answer before you brief anyone. Work through them and you will either arrive at a scoping call with a far better project, or discover you do not need one yet.
We publish when we have something specific to say, which is not often. There is no content calendar and no weekly post, because the alternative is filler and filler helps nobody. If you want to know when something lands, the RSS feed is the honest way to follow along.
Have a process you want a view on?
Thirty minutes, no charge. We will tell you what we would do and roughly what it would cost.