For a single, well-scoped workflow — the kind of first project I'd actually recommend — you should expect to see something live and working in weeks, not months. The timeline stretches out when the scope stretches out, which is exactly why starting narrow matters.
What makes a project fast?
A tight, specific target. "Automate our AP invoice entry" moves fast. "Automate all of finance and operations" does not — not because it's impossible, but because it's actually five or six projects wearing a trenchcoat. The projects that stay fast are the ones that stay narrow.
What does a typical timeline look like?
- 1Discovery — I map exactly how the process works today, including the workarounds nobody put in a manual.
- 2Build — the automation gets built and tested against real examples from your business, not generic demo data.
- 3Pilot — it runs alongside your current process for a short stretch, so nothing goes live before it's trusted.
- 4Go-live — the automation takes over the task, with you still able to see and check its work.
What slows a project down?
- ›Trying to automate everything at once instead of proving one workflow first
- ›Data that's scattered across systems that don't talk to each other
- ›Waiting on decisions — the fastest projects are ones where I can get quick answers when a choice comes up
A focused first project should be earning its keep before you've had time to second-guess the decision to start.
What happens after the first project?
That's when the pace can actually pick up. Once the foundation is in place and you've seen one workflow work, expanding to the next one is faster — you're not starting from zero, you're building on something proven.
