When a growing services business asked for help reducing onboarding churn, the process lived inside a single spreadsheet. Account managers copied tabs, chased down requirements by email, and manually triggered welcome sequences. We gave them something better in three tight sprints.
Sprint 1 — Capture the truth
The first week focused on research. I ran short interviews with account managers and recent clients to surface friction points. The key insight: every engagement followed the same five checkpoints, but stakeholders disagreed on ownership.
We mapped those checkpoints, defined owners, and wrote acceptance criteria. That clarity unlocked the next sprint.
Sprint 2 — Build the workflow
Using Astro on the front end and a lightweight Supabase backend, we built a guided checklist that translated the new process into actionable tasks. Automations fired at each checkpoint: Slack reminders when tasks were overdue, and templated emails sent once dependencies were cleared.
Sprint 3 — Measure and iterate
The final sprint focused on telemetry. We captured completion times, surfaced blockers on a single dashboard, and baked in weekly retros to evaluate the flow. Within the first month the team cut onboarding time by 45% and finally had the data to back it up.
If you are wrestling with manual processes, start by mapping the truth, codify it in a simple workflow, and add enough observability to iterate with confidence.