First Workflow

Your first automation, scoped tight — usually about a week after scope is locked.

A First Workflow is what we build when you're ready to stop watching a repetitive process eat hours every week and want one painful workflow handed back to you, finished, with the operating layer underneath it.

We pick the workflow with you on a 30-minute Automation Discovery call. We agree the trigger and the outcome together. After the call, we send the written scope and the quote for your review. Once the scope is locked, the build sprint is usually about a week.

What you get — the operating packet

Every First Workflow build ships with seven artifacts. Each one is yours, in your tools, in plain English.

Workflow map

A diagram of how data moves through the workflow — the inputs, the steps, the outputs. Sized to fit on one page.

Named owner

One person on your team who owns the workflow. We document who, why, and what they're responsible for.

Trigger

The single event that starts the workflow — a form submission, an inbox message, a calendar event, a webhook. Defined explicitly, no ambiguity.

Approval boundary

The list of actions the automation can't take without a human checkpoint. Customer-facing emails, money movement, irreversible writes — these stop for human review.

Failure path

What happens when something goes wrong. Where the input goes, who gets alerted, what the fallback is. So a broken workflow doesn't quietly lose data.

Runbook

Written instructions a teammate could follow to operate, pause, or hand off the workflow. Specific enough that you don't need us.

Evidence log

A record of what the automation did, when, and what its inputs and outputs were. Operational, not compliance.

A typical sprint

Illustrative — the day-by-day shape varies with the workflow. A typical sprint looks like:

1

Day 1

Rewrite the SOP so each step is explicit. No "use your judgment" gaps.
2

Day 2

Build the trigger and the first action.
3

Day 3

Connect the remaining steps to reach the outcome.
4

Day 4

Run it on real input, with a person watching every result.
5

Day 5

Fix what broke, then let it run live with the checkpoint in place.

If the workflow can't fit a sprint, we cut it down and reset before starting. The point isn't to ship something heroic; it's to ship one thing, see the result, and decide what comes next from evidence instead of hope.

What we don't do

We don't build five workflows in a sprint. One.
We don't automate an undocumented process without documenting it first.
We don't ship without a human checkpoint on the first runs.
We don't put your data anywhere it doesn't belong. (We can run on Canadian infrastructure or your own.)
We don't hand you something you can't run yourself.

How we scope and quote

You don't get a price off this page. The 30-minute Automation Discovery call is where we confirm fit, identify your first workflow, and outline the likely scope together. After the call, we send the written scope and quote for your review.

That isn't a stall. It's how we make sure the build is the right size — for the work you're trying to remove from your plate, not for a template.

FAQ

What if my workflow doesn't fit in one sprint?

We cut it down with you on the Automation Discovery call. If it can't be cut down, we say so and recommend a different starting workflow. Better to ship something smaller and prove the pattern than to overrun.

What tools do you build it on?

We build on n8n by default — open-source, self-hostable, and yours to keep. We can also work in Zapier or Make if that's where your tools already live. The choice is on the Automation Discovery call.

What happens after the workflow goes live?

The build hands you the operating packet. If you want us to keep maintaining it through the months and years that follow, that's a Kept Running plan. If you want to take it from there yourself, you can — the packet is yours either way.

Can I see what you've built for other clients?

We can show you the shape of a workflow we've built (with the client's permission, anonymized) on the Automation Discovery call. We don't put case studies on the public site yet.

Let's see if your First Workflow is a fit.

Book a 30-minute Automation Discovery

Or see how Kept Running works → /kept-running