PRODUCTIONSmartLemon
NOW SHOWINGAI and automation
AI and automation · The problem

Everyone says you should be using AI. Nobody can tell you where to start.

You have tried the chat tools. They are impressive for a minute and then the real work is still sitting there. The gap is not the model. It is knowing which part of your week is worth automating, building the thing properly, and getting people to use it.

The work comes first, not the tool. It starts with the people doing the job, finding the hours that repeat, and building the smallest system that gives those hours back.

SC.1Pencil storyboard sketch of the lemon shrugging and sweating while the Sour Grapes, a bunch of grumpy grapes in a theatre box, shout advice at him through megaphones and a gramophone horn.
ACTION: Everyone has advice. Nobody has a first step.Where do I even start?
SC.2Pencil storyboard sketch of the lemon with a magnifying glass and stopwatch studying a conveyor of paper stacks, one stack circled in red pencil.
ACTION: Sit with the work and find the hours that repeat.There. That stack, every Monday.
SC.3Pencil storyboard sketch of the lemon at a workbench winding the key of a small tin robot.
ACTION: Build the smallest system that gives those hours back.Wind it up and watch it run.
SC.4 · FINALPainted cartoon cel of the lemon relaxing with a coffee, feet on the desk, while the tin robot stamps and stacks the paperwork.
ACTION: Tested on real data, documented, handed over.Mondays are quiet now.
$4k, then $8k to $25k

What you get

  • A one-page map of the workflow as it really runs today
  • A decision memo with two or three options, costs, and risks
  • A working system on your real data, not a demo
  • Guardrails, error handling, and access you control
  • Documentation and a recorded walkthrough
  • Every account created in your name, with me added as a helper rather than an owner
  • A check-in thirty days after handover
The exposure sheet

How an AI and automation engagement runs, week by week.

NO.
WEEK
ACTION
WHAT YOU SEE
YOUR PART
01
WEEKWeek 1
Discovery
WHAT YOU SEETime with the people doing the work, and a map of where the time goes. You get a one-page picture of the workflow as it really runs.
YOUR PARTIntroduce me to three or four people. An hour each.
02
WEEKWeek 2
Decision memoDecision point
WHAT YOU SEETwo or three options with cost, risk, and which one the studio would pick. Each one names the signal that would change course.
YOUR PARTPick a direction, or stop here with the memo in hand.
a clean exit after week 2
03
WEEKWeeks 3 to 4
The first rough, on your real dataYou review
WHAT YOU SEEThe smallest useful version, running on your real data, in front of the people who will use it. Rough on purpose, and labelled as rough.
YOUR PARTThirty minutes of feedback, twice a week.
04
WEEKWeek 5
Build it properly
WHAT YOU SEEGuardrails, error handling, access, and documentation. The parts a demo skips and a team needs.
YOUR PARTName who owns it after the job ends.
05
WEEKWeek 6
The handover
WHAT YOU SEEOn a call together you create the accounts, and it all moves across while you watch. Training, a recorded walkthrough, and a check-in thirty days later to see what stuck.
YOUR PARTUse it. Tell me what breaks.
↑ you see real work at every step, not only at the end

The price

The first two weeks are a fixed $4k, and the memo is yours whether or not you go further. Most builds that follow land between $8k and $25k, depending on how many systems it touches and how many people have to adopt it. For scale: a job that gives back ten hours a week, at $50 an hour, pays for a $12k build in about six months. Half to begin, half at handover.

NO.
STEP
ACTION
WHAT IT COVERS
PRICE
01
STEPFirst step
Discovery and decision memo
WHAT IT COVERSFixed price. The memo is yours whether or not you go further.
PRICE$4k2 weeks
02
STEPThe job
The build
WHAT IT COVERSQuoted from the memo, so you know the number before you commit to it. The top of the range is a pilot your whole team adopts, not a single workflow.
PRICE$8k to $25k3 to 4 more weeks
03
STEPMonthly
LemonAid care
WHAT IT COVERSMonitoring, fixes, and tuning as the work changes. No lock-in.
PRICEfrom $750a month

Related work

REEL 03
Tokentrail
in “Here Be Tokens”
A local ledger for AI coding spend
REEL 04
Archi
in “Found by Meaning”
A Mac app that makes Kindle highlights searchable

Want to see if this fits?

Fifteen minutes. I will ask what is stuck, tell you honestly whether I can help, and say what I would do first.