Shovel

AI is ready.Most workflows are not.

The most valuable knowledge in your company is how the work actually gets done, and it lives in people's heads. Shovel digs it out, turns it into systems a machine can run, and remembers everything it learns. Every workflow we finish makes the next one faster, safer, and smarter.

Dig

The way your company actually works lives in your people's heads. We sit with them and dig it out: steps, owners, exceptions, and the tribal knowledge AI can't run without.

Build

We turn what we dug up into a working system with clear lines: what the machine does, what your people keep, and how you know it's right.

Remember

Everything we learn becomes memory. Your second workflow starts smarter than your first, and the tenth starts smarter still.

The deliverable is the workflow.The moat is the memory.

Every Shovel engagement creates two things: a build-ready path for your team, and structured memory of your business that makes the next workflow faster, safer, and sharper. Built for manufacturing, engineering, and operationally complex companies with the messiest, most valuable workflows and the least time to document them.

How the dig works

What Shovel does.

Engagement Process

Phase 0

Frame

What we do:

  • Define what we're solving and why it matters
  • Agree on success criteria and decision makers
  • Set explicit boundaries before design starts
  • Gate: Is the problem ready to move forward?

What you get:

  • Problem Statement
  • Solution Criteria (MoSCoW)MoSCoW sorts requirements into Must, Should, Could, and Won't Have, so the team knows what is launch-critical and what can flex.
  • Won't Have Boundaries
  • Phase 0 Handoff Document

Phase 1

Map

What we do:

  • Document how the work actually happens today
  • Capture steps, owners, systems, and handoffs
  • Surface requirements and hidden constraints
  • Gate: Is the process ready for design?

What you get:

  • SIPOC+ process mapSIPOC maps Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, and Customers. Shovel adds owners, systems, handoffs, exceptions, and constraints.
  • Owner and handoff map
  • NFR inventoryA list of non-functional requirements such as performance, security, compliance, reliability, access, auditability, and support constraints.
  • Phase 1 Handoff Document

Phase 2

Architect

What we do:

  • Shape the solution and its major parts
  • Record key architecture decisions and dependencies
  • Define how AI changes the workflow from today
  • Gate: Is the architecture ready to specify?

What you get:

  • C4 diagrams (C1-C3)C4 is a software architecture mapping model. C1 shows system context, C2 shows containers, and C3 shows components.
  • ADR set, one per containerArchitecture Decision Records capture important technical choices, the reasoning behind them, and the conditions that would change the decision.
  • Architecture assumptions
  • Phase 2 Handoff Document

Phase 3

Contract

What we do:

  • Translate the design into pass/fail requirements
  • Write real-world acceptance scenarios
  • Document what's in scope and what's not
  • Gate: Is the package ready to build?

What you get:

  • Machine Contracts (MC-NNN)Numbered, pass/fail implementation contracts that state what the system must do in a format builders and tests can evaluate.
  • BDD Scenarios (BDD-NNN)Numbered behavior scenarios, usually written as Given, When, Then, that prove the workflow works in real-world conditions.
  • Won't Have log / scope fence
  • Phase 3 Handoff Document

Criteria before decisions

Agree on the rules before choosing a solution. The decision can change later, but the reasoning should stay clear, testable, and easy to revisit.

Conversation is the work

Working sessions become usable outputs. AI helps draft, organize, and connect the pieces, but people can review, edit, or write anything by hand.

Nothing invisible

Every major part has a decision record. Every decision has a build contract. Every contract has an acceptance scenario. Routine choices are documented too.

What comes out of the ground.

Outcome stories

Three workflows Shovel has dug out and built. Clients unnamed, results real. Step through how each one runs.

Industrial manufacturer · Sales estimating

From plain English to client-ready quote.

Quoting used to mean forms, estimator queues, and waiting. Now the conversation is the quote.

Step 1 of 5

Ask in plain language

A salesperson describes what the customer needs in their own words. No forms, no estimator queue, no translation step.

Client memory

Living knowledge of your business, systems, people, processes, and decisions.

Discovery

We uncover the real workflows, constraints, and desired outcomes.

Capture

Facts, decisions, patterns, and risks become key insights as memory.

Apply

Memory informs better questions, specs, and risk detection.

Improve

Outcomes and feedback update memory, and sharpen future work.

Agents run the process.

Prepare

Studies the client, context, open questions, and likely blind spots before the working session begins.

Diagnose

Turns early knowledge into a clear first read on the problem, owner, value, constraints, readiness, and next best path.

Capture

Turns interviews and workshops into usable workflow evidence: maps, requirements, risks, decisions, and next steps.

Decide

Clarifies important choices, tradeoffs, reasoning, dependencies, and what would cause a decision to change.

Protect

Keeps the plan coherent when decisions, scope, requirements, or constraints shift during the work.

Improve

Captures outcomes, mistakes, missing context, and lessons that make the next workflow faster, safer, and sharper.

Shovel uses focused agents to prepare the room, diagnose the opportunity, capture the work, shape decisions, protect the plan, and improve the system after every rep.

Diagnostic

One workflow, fixed price: $3,500. Finds the right work and makes it clearly buildable.

Start herePhase 0

Handoff

Support layer. Helps client teams or partners execute without losing context.

Phases 1-3

Implementation

Full build range. Good specs create qualified pilots, MVPs, and systems.

Buildout

Maintenance

Keeps launched workflows useful, governed, measured, and improving.

Ongoing