Keel Method. Four weeks to write down how your company really runs.
Someone sits with the people who do the work and maps how the business actually runs. The output is a written process, a delegation map and a requirements list you own whether or not software follows.
What happens.
- 1
Set the direction
We agree what the business is trying to become and what is getting in the way. This becomes the one-page direction sheet: core values, 3, 5 and 10 year targets, and the few metrics that matter.
- 2
Listen
We interview the people who do the work, not just the owner. We ask what actually happens on a bad Tuesday, where things get stuck, and what gets re-explained too often.
- 3
Shadow
We follow live jobs and watch the real hand-offs. Screens and reports only tell part of the story; the rest shows up when you sit beside someone doing the work.
- 4
Map
We draw the current state in swim-lane process maps and a future state that removes the worst bottlenecks. The maps are plain enough that the crew can read them back to us.
- 5
Decide
We decide which steps stay manual, which can be handled by the tools you already pay for, and which need to live in a custom portal. This becomes the requirements list.
- 6
Write it down
We produce standard operating procedures, a delegation map that moves decisions off the owner's desk, and the documented process the portal will be built to match.
What you get.
- Direction sheet
- Core values and 3, 5 and 10 year targets on one page.
- Current and future state maps
- Swim-lane process maps the crew can read and correct.
- Standard operating procedures
- Plain-language SOPs for the jobs that keep going wrong.
- Requirements list
- What software should handle, and what should stay manual.
- Delegation map
- Who owns which decision, so the load stops resting on one person.
How it is delivered.
On site, then virtual
We are on site in Thunder Bay and across Northwestern Ontario for the first one to three weeks, depending on the size of the company. After that, the work moves virtual: review calls, draft revisions and final sign-off.
What the owner provides
Access to staff, time for the direction conversation, and honest feedback on the maps. The process belongs to you, so the corrections matter as much as the first draft.
Who it is for.
- 10 to 100 staff.
- Owner-led, with the owner still the bottleneck.
- Four or more disconnected tools in daily use.
- A sense that the same problems keep reappearing.
Investment.
From $5,000. Four weeks. No software required.
The Method is the paid diagnostic that sizes any Bridge build, so Keel never quotes fixed-price software on a guess.