What gets mapped in a discovery before anything is built?
Three things: each workflow with how it works today and how much it matters, the pending items waiting for a reply, and where a person approves. They are seen in a prototype with fictitious data before a single line of the system is written. That is where the project with a commercial glazing contractor in Houston stands today: in discovery.
What being in discovery means
We are mapping the process with the client; there is no system in operation yet. In the Houston project, the scope being mapped covers curtain wall and storefront work: supplier spec sheets and price comparison per vendor, assisted quoting, and quoted-versus-actual close, on top of the tools the team already uses.
Nothing reaches a recommendation until it is observed in a real file, screen, or number. Working sessions with the team exist for that: to see how it is done today, not how it is said to be done.
First, the workflows
Each workflow is mapped with a traffic light for how it works today and a level for how much it matters. The prototype keeps count of how many workflows are mapped, how many are critical, how many are in development, and how many already operate, and each card shows that workflow's friction.
That map is what keeps us from building the first thing that comes to mind: a workflow that works poorly but matters little waits; one that matters a lot goes first.
Second, what is waiting for a reply
A board in columns by stage (draft, sent, returned, approved) with the days each pending item has been waiting for a reply, and with amounts hidden. For a contractor, closing quoted against actual starts here: knowing what is waiting, since when, and on whom it depends.
Third, who approves
The status change is confirmed by hand, with a note, and recorded in the log. From the prototype on, we define which decisions are never the agent's: AI can prepare, sort, and notify; approving belongs to a person.
Workflows
- Traffic light for how it works today
- Level for how much it matters
- Mapped, critical, in development, in operation
Pending items
- Draft, sent, returned, approved
- Days waiting for a reply
- Amounts hidden
Approval
- Status change by hand
- With a note, in the log
- Never the agent's
What comes out of the discovery
A gap map and an exact plan: which modules, in what order, what is out of scope, and a closed price for that scope. Then we build one level at a time and move to the next only when the previous one has shown results in the client's own numbers.
The prototype is not a client or a delivered project: it is a working tool with fictitious data to see the process on screen. Its screenshots, labeled as demo data, are on the how-we-work page.
- Evidence-based discoveryWorking sessions with the team
- Gap mapWhich modules, in what order, what is out
- A person approvesClosed scope in writingA closed price for that scope
- One level at a timeMove up with results in your own numbers
- Handover or continuityCode, data, and documentation in full
What is not done at this stage
No date or price is promised before the discovery is complete. The tools the team already uses are not replaced. And nothing is built: what gets decided here is what is worth building and what is not.