How it works
This page explains what a sprint is, where the idea comes from, and what a finished one looks like. If you would rather talk it through, book a call and I will answer your questions directly.
A sprint is two weeks of my time, at a fixed price of £2,500, that ends with one working fix in your business.
It is not a report, a strategy document or a list of recommendations. It is a real thing that you or your customers can use, built and working before the two weeks are over.
The scope is deliberately small. Each sprint fixes one problem. If your business has five problems, we start with the one that costs you the most, and we can run another sprint later if you want to.
The word comes from software teams. A sprint is a short, fixed block of time with a clear goal. The team decides at the start exactly what it will deliver, works only on that, and shows the finished result at the end. Nothing is added part-way through.
Large companies use sprints because they stop projects from growing without limit. I use them for the same reason, and because the fixed length is what allows the fixed price. You know the cost and the end date before we start.
I spend two half-days with you and, if you have them, your staff. I watch how a job moves through the business, from the first enquiry to the final payment. I write down every point where work waits, gets retyped, or depends on one person remembering something.
At the end of the second day I tell you which one problem is worth fixing, what I will build, and roughly what it will save you. You decide whether to go ahead. If I have not found anything that would pay for itself, I say so, and there is no charge for the two days.
I build the fix. I show you progress every couple of days, usually with a short screen recording, so there are no surprises. You do not need to attend meetings.
I show you the fix working with your real data. I walk you and your staff through it, and I leave written instructions that fit on one page. From that point it is yours.
These are examples of the size of problem a sprint is designed for. Each one is a single fix that can be built and working in about a week.
A joiner sent quotes as photographs of paper in WhatsApp. Customers took days to reply, and he spent evenings chasing them. The fix was a quote page the customer opens, reads and accepts in one tap, with a deposit taken at the same time.
An accountancy practice wrote the same engagement letter by hand for every new client, copying details from an email into a Word template. The fix was a short form that produces the finished letter, ready to send, in under a minute.
A small firm had one person who checked unpaid invoices every Friday and sent polite emails. When she was on holiday, nothing was chased. The fix was an automatic reminder that goes out at 7, 14 and 21 days, with a copy to the owner.
A garage tracked bookings, parts and payments in one spreadsheet that only the owner understood. The fix was a simple booking board that any member of staff could update from a phone, with the spreadsheet kept as a backup export.
It helps to be clear about the edges.
Most fixes need somewhere to live, and someone to call if something changes. There are three options, and you choose at the end of the sprint.
I hand over the code and the instructions. It is yours, and you owe me nothing further.
For a small monthly fee, I keep it running, make small adjustments, and answer questions. Most clients choose this.
If the first fix shows a second problem worth solving, we scope it and go again.
The sprint works best for owner-run businesses with between one and thirty people, where the owner knows something is slow but has not had time to fix it. Trades, professional practices such as accountants and surveyors, garages, and small specialist firms are the usual fit.
It is a poor fit for businesses that need a large system chosen and installed, or for owners who want a report rather than a change.
If you think there is a slow, manual part of your business that a sprint could fix, book a call and tell me about it. I will tell you whether it would pay for itself.
