AI-NATIVE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK.
We've turned work people used to run by hand into patterns AI can run precisely.
We've turned the marketing and product development work we built up as a development company into AI workflows and skills.
AI does the work; people make the calls. With this system, we run AI development as an organization.
MARKETING WORKFLOW.
We've turned the whole PDCA cycle of running media into AI skills.
We run everything from goal setting to daily reporting, task creation, production and post-launch evaluation as one cycle.
We've turned each step of that cycle into AI skills, and we build and run our own CMS, Autorial, as the platform those skills run on.
AI turns the reports into tickets and works through them. People receive a report of the changes and review it.
Anything especially important, such as articles, is assigned to a person, who gives it full attention and finishes it.
FIG. 01-A
The media operations cycle
Seven steps, run by AI skills and our CMS, Autorial. People make the call on the steps in cyan.
FIG. 01-B
From report to ticket to fix
AI turns reports into tickets and handles them, and people review the change report. Important work such as articles is assigned to a person.
Step by step
01 — GOAL
Set goals
From the business goals, we decide which metrics to track and what the reports look like.
Human decision
02 — REPORT
Report daily
Every day, SEO research and shifts in the numbers are compiled into a report.
03 — TICKET
AI writes tickets
Based on what moved in the report, AI writes the next actions up as tickets.
04 — CREATE
Fix and create
AI works the tickets, producing and reviewing creatives and articles. Important pieces such as articles are assigned to a person.
05 — CHECK
Check the rules
Before anything goes live, we check it against regulations such as the medical advertising guidelines.
06 — PUBLISH
Publish and watch
After publishing, we check how users respond.
07 — CONFIRM
Review and evaluate
A person receives the report of the changes, reviews it, and evaluates the results against the goals.
Human decision
Back to 01 Goal, and the cycle keeps turning
TICKET DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT.
We've built the project manager's job into the workflow.
Ticketing, requirements definition, organizing user stories during implementation. We now run almost everything that used to be the project manager's territory through AI workflows.
At contract development firms, the most labor-intensive job has always been turning requests and designs into tickets and documents. We built that job into the workflow and put an end to tickets being updated while the docs stay out of date.
For the task board, we use Notion, our own board and others, extended to fit each product.
FIG. 02-A
How a ticket moves
A single ticket moves across the board, from filing through QA to done.
FIG. 02-B
Branch strategy
Each ticket gets its own working branch. A PR brings it back into the development branch for QA, and merging into the production branch deploys it.
FIG. 02-C
Tickets and docs in sync
When a ticket is updated, the docs are updated with it, and the code is written to follow the docs.
FIG. 02-D
QA report
Results from testing in real browsers and on real devices are filed as a QA report.
Step by step
01 — ICEBOX
Write the ticket
Requests and designs become tickets, and the requirements and user stories are sorted out.
02 — IN PROGRESS
Start work
The status moves to in progress, and a working branch is set.
03 — DOCS
Read and update docs
Related documents are checked and updated to match the change.
04 — CODE
Update the code
The code is written to follow the docs and merged when the work is done.
05 — QA
File the QA report
We test in real browsers and on real devices, and file the results as a QA report.
Human decision
06 — DEPLOY
Deploy
Build tests, deployment and testing in production are all set up.
Handed off to 03 Operations and monitoring
OPERATE FROM DAY ONE.
Monitoring and operations start the moment we deploy.
The moment a product is deployed to production, we put uptime, internal and external monitoring on it, the same way for every product.
When an alert fires, we respond, and for minor bugs and server-error-level issues we have a system that fixes them automatically.
Routine work such as maintenance, operations, monitoring and development, and everything else a development company does, has been turned into workflows and skills.
FIG. 03-A
Monitoring and auto-fix
Three kinds of monitoring keep watch on production, and minor bugs are fixed automatically.
FIG. 03-B
Routine work as skills
From planning to operations, a development company's routine work is held as skills.
Step by step
01 — LAUNCH
Go to production
Monitoring is set up with every deploy, the same way every time.
02 — MONITOR
Monitor
Uptime, internal and external monitoring keep checking that nothing has stopped or slowed down.
03 — ALERT
Raise an alert
When something abnormal is detected, an alert goes up and we start responding.
Human decision
04 — AUTO-FIX
Fix automatically
Minor bugs and server-error-level issues are fixed automatically.
Monitoring continues and feeds into the next round of development
WHAT CHANGED
LESS DRIFT. FASTER PAYBACK.
On schedule, at the right cost, with faster payback.
We started out as a development company.
We took work that was costly to run by hand and made it run precisely through workflows.
As a result, we can now propose product development with schedules and budgets that are easy to forecast.
- 01 — ON SCHEDULE
Little drift from the plan
We can now keep schedule delays and slippage from unexpected rework to a minimum.
There is also less gap between what was planned and what gets built. - 02 — RIGHT COST
Costs that fit the product
One trusted director can now run an entire project.
This keeps development costs far lower than running it with a large team, so we can propose plans with a good balance of revenue and cost. - 03 — FASTER PAYBACK
Faster return on investment
The cycle from a decision to the next output is short, so products reach the market sooner.
The sooner they reach the market, the sooner the initial investment pays back, and the easier it is to commit budget.
BUILD IT WITH THIS WORKFLOW.
We'll build the next product with this workflow.
We run both new product launches and the ongoing development of live products on this workflow. It's fine if the requirements aren't settled yet.