Here’s what ours is for, and what you should expect to hold at the end of it, whoever you hire.

Start with a number

We always start with the same question: where would AI move a number you already care about? Hours lost to chasing invoices. Days between an order and a delivery date. The margin on a job you only find out about at month end.

If the answer is “nowhere yet”, that’s a result. It’s cheaper to learn it in two weeks than in six months.

Two weeks inside the work

Most of the time goes on watching how work actually moves through the business. That’s rarely what the org chart or the three-year-old process document says. It’s who re-keys what, where the spreadsheet lives, and which step only works because one person remembers to do it.

That means time with the people doing the work, not only the people running it. They know where the hours go. They’re also the ones who will live with whatever comes next, so they should be in the room from the start.

What you should leave with

Four things. If a diagnostic doesn’t give you all four, ask why.

  • A map of your workflows as they actually run. Written down, often for the first time.
  • A short list of places AI would make a measurable difference, with the case for each: what changes, what it’s worth, and what it would take.
  • A written list of what not to automate, and why. Some of the most useful lines in the plan stop a bad project before it starts.
  • An operating plan you own, whether or not you build it with us.

What it shouldn’t do

A diagnostic shouldn’t end in a product demo, or recommend the tool the adviser happens to sell. Nor should it leave you dependent on the people who wrote it. The plan should be clear enough that someone else could carry it out.

How to tell if it was worth it

Look at the no-list first. If every idea made it into the plan, nobody was being honest with you. Then look at the shortlist and ask whether you could explain each item to your team in a sentence, including who would own it.

If you can, the two weeks did their job. Whether you build it next is a separate decision, and it should feel like one.

Our version is called Blueprint: two weeks, fixed fee. Read what’s in it.