If you quit tomorrow, who starts over?

Starting from zero

A few years ago I took over a group of people in a warehouse. My predecessor kept notes on them on paper, the same way the group managers before had done for years. I couldn't find those notes. I started from zero. Then the company bought a new system. I typed the old records in by hand, then scanned each paper so we could throw it out. I hated it.

We had four systems for our people. Each group manager ran all four for their own group, from clocking in to improvement ideas. When one of us quit, the next person had to learn all four, then start over with that group, as I did.

Reports on demand

In August we started asking owners of small companies how their work gets done. One owner could pick any report the system offered, and add or drop reports as needed. I asked if anything checked that the reports were right. But the owner couldn't say.

I explained that automation comes in steps. At one end you do the work by hand. At the other it all runs on its own, so you do something else entirely. I guessed the company stood halfway. The owner guessed the same, but wanted to know what the rest of the way looks like. The system did what its vendor sold it to do, but checking the result wasn't anyone's job.

The hours left over

Benjamin asked me this summer if I wanted to start a company, and I said yes. I worked 7 to 4 on weekdays. On weekends I tended bar at a nightclub, with extra evening shifts at a restaurant on top. Benjamin had a full-time job too, so we built Mellovy in our hours left over. First came a name and colors, then a bank account, then a product we kept reworking. And I had to learn roles I hadn't held before, from finance to marketing. Benjamin built the AI.

We could buy a tool for a piece of each role. Doing the role was still on us, in the evenings at Benjamin's place. I biked 30 minutes there after work, then home again in time to get five hours of sleep before 7. Benjamin kept going most of the night.

And we built Mellovy so roles don't all pile up on one person. An AI colleague in Mellovy works in your tools, on a whole computer of its own. Hand one your weekly report. It pulls all the numbers from your systems itself, then sends the report within the limits you set.

You start by describing a correct report in plain words. An Evaluation compares each report with what you wrote, then checks the numbers against real figures in your systems. The colleague's own word doesn't count as proof. But the owner with the reports didn't have that check.

First count the hours the colleague gives back to you, which is the time the role used to cost you every week. Then put those hours into paid work. The money they bring in is your second number. But with both numbers, you can tell a solved problem from one that only feels solved.