The job that eats a week
A process the team repeats every day or every month, where nobody has measured how long it really takes.
Before we automate anything, we find out what the work actually is.
One trigger. One team. One outcome. We map the real workflow, understand the exceptions, measure the effort and design something you can decide whether to build.
Fixed fee
£2,500 + VAT
- Two to three weeks
- One trigger, one team, one outcome
- Outputs you own, whether or not you build
- Any build priced separately, in writing
One workflow, taken apart and designed properly.
Discovery & Design is the second step of every engagement, after a free conversation. It is fixed at £2,500 + VAT, takes two to three weeks and is scoped to one trigger, one team and one outcome. A build, if you want one, is priced separately and agreed in writing.
A useful design is worth having, even if you do not build it.
- Follow the work. See what arrives, who touches it, where it waits and what causes rework.
- Draw the boundaries. Decide what should be automated, prepared for review or left with people.
- Put numbers around it. Establish volume, time, exceptions, capacity returned and likely economics.
Where it helps
Good first workflows for Discovery.
Work spread across systems
A workflow that crosses an inbox, a spreadsheet and two systems, with people carrying the information between them.
An idea you’re not sure about
Something you think could be automated, where you’d rather know what it involves before paying for a build.
A bounded engagement, not an endless workshop.
What Discovery & Design includes
- Map the current stateTrigger, owners, systems, exceptions
- Classify the workAutomate, augment, leave with people
- Design the future stateControls, roles, integrations and evidence
- Make the caseBaseline, capacity and fixed-price proposal
See it run: Tina sketches this workflow, step by step, and shows which parts a person keeps.
What you receive
- A current-state map and a measurable baseline
- A target design with every decision marked automate, augment or human-owned
- Feasibility, risks and an estimate of the capacity returned
- A fixed-price build proposal, if a build makes sense
- Outputs you own, whether or not you build with us
What stays with your team
- Whether to build at all
- Which decisions stay with your people
- Who owns the workflow afterwards
AI prepares. People decide. Routine actions run only within limits you agree.
Usually built with
- Forms & capture
- Microsoft 365
Power Automate
Technologies we work with. Product names and logos belong to their owners, who do not endorse Boring Future.
The evidence. Each with where it came from.
Illustrative discovery example · not a delivered engagement
£2,500 + VAT
Fixed discovery fee; two to three weeks; one trigger, one team, one outcome.
What a permit-approval workflow might reveal.
- The situation
- A field-services team receives job details, checks access and safety requirements, submits permit information and chases approvals before engineers can proceed.
- What Discovery would do
- In Discovery, we would map the trigger and hand-offs, identify unusual site conditions and decide which validations or updates can run automatically.
- A possible outcome
- A possible target design is a prepared permit pack, visible approval status and a clear human route for safety or access exceptions. This is an illustration of the methodology, not a completed customer case.
Reasons not to automate
- If the work is rare, or different every time, a person is often faster and safer.
- If the process itself is broken, we redesign it first. Automating it would only make the mistakes quicker.
- If the numbers don’t add up, we’ll recommend not building. The design is still yours.
How it works
- Free conversationFree
- Discovery & Design£2,500 + VAT, fixed
- CompleteFixed scope and fee
- OperateOptional, monthly
Running a business of 5 to 50 people? Essentials starts with a £395 + VAT half-day session
Questions. Anything else, just ask.
Ask us directlyIs £2,500 the cost of the entire build?
No. That is the fixed fee for Discovery & Design, plus VAT. Implementation is scoped and priced separately.
Are we obliged to build with Boring Future?
No. You own the outputs and can stop after Discovery.
What happens if automation is not worthwhile?
You receive the assessment and a clear recommendation not to proceed, or a different approach that better fits the work.
What happens after Discovery?
If you decide to build, we quote a fixed price for the build, Complete, from the design. Optional Operate support can follow, agreed in writing.
Where it’s used. Where to go next.
The first deliverable is clarity. The software comes later.
Start a free 30 to 45 minute conversation. No deck, no obligation.