One app for the whole crew
- Problem
- Shifts, swaps, messages and the handbook lived in five different places.
- Built
- A staff app on each person's own phone.
- How
- Next shift → clock in → pick up an open shift → message a manager single source of truth
Case studies
Real problems. Real systems.
From a café and a guided tour company: what hurt, what we built, and how it works.
"You're not really clocked in until the truck checks out."
A café and bakery
Labor that follows sales
- Problem
- Schedules came from habit. Rushes ran short, slow hours ran heavy.
- Built
- A schedule builder that reads sales by the quarter hour and suggests who works when.
- How
- Register history source → demand by hour forecast → staffing need → draft schedule a manager approves human in the loop
Ordering from the main kitchen
- Problem
- A satellite café ordered by text message. The kitchen guessed.
- Built
- A count screen with a par level for every item. The gap becomes the order.
- How
- Count on a phone → compare to par rule → pick sheet prints → order emailed on schedule trigger
Hiring from the front window
- Problem
- Applications arrived on paper, or not at all.
- Built
- A QR code in the window and a phone-friendly application.
- How
- Scan → apply → interview sheet prints → a hire lands in the staff system single source of truth
A guided tour company
Tour itineraries, kept in one place
- Problem
- Trip details lived in Word files and got retyped for the website, the guides and marketing.
- Built
- An itinerary editor with maps, daily miles and climbing.
- How
- Upload a GPS track → miles and climbing fill in → staff edit each day → approve → it's on the website structured data · approval
The truck checks out before you clock in
- Problem
- Vehicle checks depended on memory and reminders.
- Built
- The inspection is part of clocking in, so it happens at the same moment every day.
- How
- Clock in → inspection → all good, or a defect report → manager notified → truck held until cleared status · exception
Unchecked→Checked→Defect?→Cleared→Out on trip→Returned
Schedules straight from bookings
- Problem
- Every week, trips were retyped from the booking system into the schedule.
- Built
- Guide scheduling reads trips directly from the reservation system.
- How
- New booking → trip appears on the schedule → guides assigned → changes reach guides integration · trigger
Trip reports while it's fresh
- Problem
- Trip notes arrived days later, if they arrived at all.
- Built
- A short trip report as part of clocking out.
- How
- Clock out → a few required questions → notes reach the office the same day required field
More ideas, same principle
There's so much more we can do than we knew.
Your history, finally usable
Six years of roasting logs pulled out of the roaster's software and into one place. Now they can predict what to roast and when.
data extraction · forecastingEight years of sales you can talk to
Every sale from the point of sale, stored in a place you own. Ask it questions in plain English instead of digging through reports.
data ownership · AI over your dataThe mail opens itself
Scanned letters and bills are read, sorted and turned into draft entries for the books. A person still approves each one.
OCR · human in the loopA phone assistant
Calls a business for you, gets through the phone tree, waits on hold and books within limits you set. It always says it's your assistant.
voice agent · guardrailsNew brains for an old machine
A production machine kept running after its maker stopped supporting the computer that controls it. Watch first, change nothing, then replace.
reverse engineering · safety firstRecipes that know their cost
Supplier invoices feed ingredient prices, so every recipe shows what it really costs this week.
structured data · single source of truthWaivers before anyone arrives
Guests sign on their phone ahead of time, and the signed copy is filed with their booking.
e-signature · integrationAn inbox that sorts itself
Notices and newsletters filed away, real questions from real people raised to the top.
rules + AI · triage
The honest part
The first project took a year. Early AI tools and a freelancer both fell short. I'll tell you what I learned.