For small businesses
Untangle the work, and the business starts to move.
Try it small, and keep what works. It’s how startups work, and AI needs that habit, so we bring it to small firms.
We do it all, from the plan to the build, in three steps: write every job down, try the likely ones in small trials, then build what worked. Here’s an example of each.
Untangle.
Step 1 · An example
Every job on one page, so the right one moves first.
Say Pete does the quotes and is the only one who understands the server. The bookings live in a spreadsheet, and jobs get handed on in the office WhatsApp. We map every job with Pete and the others: who does it, and what it waits for.
Pete is made up, though you may know one.
Try it yourself: the Untangle sheetExperiment.
Step 2 · An example
Three trials on the quotes. One is kept.
Say the quotes are the job everyone groans about. We try three things on them, with Pete: a chatbot for customers, automatic replies, and AI drafting each quote for Pete to check. The first two don’t help, so they go in the bin while that’s still cheap. The third does, so it stays.
Build.
Step 3 · An example
The quotes go in for real. Pete checks every one.
AI drafts each quote and Pete checks it before it goes out, so nothing reaches a customer he hasn’t seen. The bookings are next. The accounts stay human.
The written plan
The plan is written down, and it’s yours to keep.
Whatever you decide next, you keep the written plan. It holds six things.
Every job
Who does it now, and what it waits for.
The jobs for AI
The ones that follow a pattern, such as the first draft of a quote.
Who checks each one
One named person per job, who can change what the AI produced.
What stays human
The accounts, and anything that rests on knowing a customer.
Which tools staff may use
And what never goes into them.
The order
One job at a time, starting with one that irritates people now.
The rule on AI tools
One page says which AI tools your staff may use.
And what never goes into them: customer details stay out of free ChatGPT, and you get a plan for your data: what each tool may see, and where it goes. If someone already uses AI on their phone for a job, that job goes on the list. It shows you where help is wanted.
Read the guide: Who checks the AIHow undoing works
If it can’t be undone, it stays with a person.
AI drafts, a person sends
Nothing reaches a customer until the checker has seen it.
A record anyone can read
Every AI job leaves one, so you can see what it did and put it back.
One place to say it’s odd
A line in the office WhatsApp will do. If a trial stops helping, it comes out.
Who you get
You get the person you met.
David Ashenden does the untangling, runs the trials and builds what worked. When a job needs a specialist, and some do, we bring one in by name, on our paper, under our insurance.
Subversive Ltd · Exeter · Est. 2013
What it costs
From £950 a month.
For small and medium businesses in the South West, excluding VAT.
The first weeks go on the untangling and a first trial. Whatever you decide next, you keep the written plan.
In their words
“His attitude, knowledge and attention to detail soon helped bring things back online.”
“We use David for any key projects that we have and to also sense check thinking and direction, he has an excellent broad knowledge of tech.”
Talk to Dave
Tell us three jobs. We’ll tell you where to start.
Confidential. No sales theatre. The reply costs nothing and comes from Dave.