Start checklist

This is the list we use before opening tools. It fits on one side of a page. If three boxes are empty, this week’s work is not “try a model”. It is closing those boxes.

Print it. Put a date and names. The next meeting starts with what is still blank, not with a new demo.

Scope

• There is a sentence: “when X arrives, we do Y, a human confirms Z”.
• There is a flow you will not touch this quarter, written just as clearly.
• There is a weekly volume (a number), not “quite a few”.
• There is an owner with a name and two protected hours.
• There is something you stop doing to make room.

Data and legal

• One-page inventory: systems, fields, owner, export.
• A named source of truth.
• A legal basis in five lines.
• A processor identified, or a decision not to send the data out.
• A yes / no / ask poster communicated to the people who will paste things.

Operating design

• Input and output can be pasted into a ticket.
• Human checks on 100% at the start.
• Kill switch: who, how, how fast.
• An exception queue or tray, even if it is a sheet.
• An afternoon plan B (back to the manual process).

Measurement and habit

• Baseline week taken (minutes, errors) before you switch on.
• The four numbers: hours, errors, accept rate, cycle time.
• Champions (1–2) and review dates (day 14 and 45).
• A five-step guide next to the tool, not a 40-page PDF.
• A stop rule: which number makes you cut or switch off.

Purchase and programme

• A quote with design, implementation, integration, training and operations — not only a licence.
• Residency, training and exit questions answered in writing.
• If a voucher is in mind, a category that truly fits — not the trendiest one.
• A named week-2 deliverable.

How we use the list in an assessment

Bring it half done. We finish it with you or we tell you which box is blocking. You do not need every box green to talk. You do need not to pretend they are green.

If a vendor proposes starting with the tool while this list is blank, you are buying a demo. Keep the money until there is a sentence and an owner.

Week 1, day by day (when the boxes are green)

Monday: sentence on the wall, baseline week started, named accounts. Tuesday: a sample of real documents, not demo ones. Wednesday: queue and validation rules on a sheet. Thursday: the champion runs three cases end to end. Friday: first count and a kill-switch test (off and on).

If you cannot switch it off on Friday, you have not started: you have installed. The difference shows on the first public holiday.

Week 2 starts with what failed on Friday, not with a new vendor feature. The week-2 deliverable we ask for in orientation is exactly this: flow in use, switch tested, first number.

Who brings what to the call

You: the half-filled list, a volume, the system name. Us: which box is blocking and whether the case fits a programme or a private pilot. Nobody brings a twelve-tool wishlist. If one appears, it is parked.

Boxes that often lie

“There is an owner” when the owner does not know they are one. “There is a legal basis” when nobody has written it. “There is a kill switch” when the switch is a vendor ticket. “There is a metric” when the metric is a screenshot. Contrast those four with evidence the same day.

A green box with no evidence is treated as grey. Self-deception is the error the list cannot tick by itself: you need another person at the table. That is why the assessment is useful even if you hire nothing else.

Print two copies: one on the owner’s wall, one in leadership’s mail. Digital-only gets lost. Paper gets pointed at on Friday. It sounds crude. It is the method that survives SMEs that already tried three tools.

The volume box is filled with a seven-day count, not with a management hunch. “Quite a few invoices” has sunk more than one budget. Twenty, eighty or four change the yes or the no. Count before the second call.

Frequently asked questions

How many boxes may stay grey?

Purchase boxes, if you have not asked for a quote yet. Scope and data boxes, no: without them there is no pilot.

Is a pretty Notion enough?

One side of paper is enough. Format does not score. Names and dates do.

Do we repeat it for every flow?

Yes, shorter the second time. The second flow does not inherit the first’s owner or perimeter by magic.

Before this: where to start and prioritising. Request an assessment and we will use this list on the call.