Who this is for and what to expect

This works best for businesses with about one to 25 people where the owner or manager is still close to the daily work. Restaurants, shops, contractors, clinics, nonprofits, and service businesses all fit. If you're a one-person shop, it works too. You're just the only person who gets interviewed.

It also works for the person doing it. If you're a freelancer, student, or volunteer who wants to help local businesses this way, everything on this site is written for you as well. The steps are the same, only the chair you're sitting in changes.

A realistic first month

Every business is different, so treat this as a rough shape.

Week one is watching. Nothing gets built. The person helping you sits in, shadows a few of your people, and asks a lot of questions that may feel obvious. By Friday you should get a short list of problems, ranked. If you get a proposal for a big system instead, something went wrong.

Week two is the first fix. One problem, one small thing built. It might be live by Wednesday. It probably won't be perfect, and that's on purpose. You want it used and criticized early.

Weeks three and four are handoff and the next problem. Your staff learn the fix. Someone writes down how it works. If the first fix is going well, you pick the next problem and loop again.

Some jobs are done in a week. A single reminder system doesn't need a month. Don't stretch the work to fill the calendar.

What you'll need to do

Less than you'd think, but not nothing.

• Plan on a couple of hours in week one, mostly answering questions
• Tell your staff what's happening and why, before the new person shows up (more on that below)
• Give access to the tools they need to see, such as your booking system, spreadsheet, or order inbox
• Decide quickly when you're asked a question. A fix that waits four days for an answer stalls

The biggest thing is picking one person on your team to be the day-to-day contact. Not you, unless you're the one doing the work being fixed.

Tell your staff first

This is the step owners skip, and it causes the most trouble.

When a stranger starts watching how people work, staff assume they're being evaluated, or that they're about to be replaced. Say what's true before anyone has to guess. Something like: "Sam is going to spend a few days with us. They're here to find the stuff that wastes your time, not to grade anyone. If something annoys you, tell them."

Don't promise that nobody's job will change unless you know that's true. Say what you know. Often the honest version is "this takes the typing out of your week," and people like hearing that.

What not to expect

• Nothing instant. Even a small fix takes real time, mostly spent figuring out what to fix.
• Not magic. If your staff don't use the thing, it doesn't work. That part is covered in how to teach staff a new tool.
• Not a replacement for people. The fixes here save hours. They don't run your business.
• Not a big technology project. If someone starts proposing a platform, a rebuild, or a custom app in week one, ask why a spreadsheet won't do.

What can go wrong

Be ready for these, because they happen:

1. Staff clam up. Fix: the owner stays out of the interviews.
2. The owner hovers, then changes the plan twice a week. Fix: agree on the problem, then let it run.
3. The first fix is built for the owner's pet peeve, not the real time sink. Fix: rank the problems with the staff in the room.
4. The fix works, and a month later nobody remembers how. Fix: a one-page handoff, written before the person leaves.

If you want to see what the person is actually doing during week one, read your first week inside a business.