RunByOps

Operations, systems and practical AI

Stop being the system. Build one instead.

I help owners and small teams improve how work gets done: clearer systems, better workflows and practical uses of AI, built into the tools you already use. Questions get answered without you, details get typed once, and what the business knows isn’t stuck in one person’s head.

Find your problem Or have it built with you

By Kevin Ly in Sydney. I run my waterproofing consultancy on systems I built. See them.

Owner’s desk Mon 8:40

New client starting this week · Example & Co.

Quote
Ready since Friday. Needs your OK Only you
Client details
Typed into the CRM, the quote and the invoice 3 times
Onboarding
‘Ask Sam.’ Sam’s away until Thursday In Sam’s head
Welcome email
Drafted with AI. Not checked against the quote Unchecked
Timesheets
Copied into the invoice by hand, Fridays By hand

Waiting on you

Illustrative. Five small hold-ups, one bottleneck.

Start here

Sound familiar?

Five problems that turn up in small service businesses of every kind, in an office or out on site. Each one has a first move you can make this week.

  1. ‘Can you just check with me first?’

    Everything still goes through you

    Most of it is people asking where things are up to. One shared record per job, with an owner and a dated next action, answers that without you.

  2. ‘I’ve typed that into the CRM, the quote and the invoice.’

    The same details, entered three times

    Decide where each detail is entered first, and have everything else copy from there. Connecting the tools then becomes a one-way job.

  3. ‘Only Sam knows how we do that.’

    Know-how that lives in someone’s head

    Next time Sam does it, write the steps down as they go, awkward cases included. A checklist someone has used beats a manual nobody opens.

  4. ‘Half the team uses AI. Nobody does it the same way.’

    AI that isn’t part of the work yet

    Pick one task people already use AI for. Write down what goes in, the instructions and who checks the result, so anyone can run it the same way.

  5. ‘Did that one ever get invoiced?’

    Work that falls between your tools

    When work finishes in one system and gets billed in another, someone has to carry it across. Track what’s waiting in between, and name who moves it.

The guides, with free templates

Each works one problem through in depth. Three use examples from site-based work, where my own business is, and three use office examples. The method carries across.

Why it happens

Carbon copies got one thing right

Write it once, press hard, and everyone who needed the record got the same copy at the same moment: the customer, the office and the file.

Today’s tools are faster, but each keeps its own copy. Details get retyped, answers sit in someone’s inbox or memory, and someone ends up as the copy machine. Most of what I build puts the shared copy back.

Then and now Then: one form, written once, produced three matching copies for the customer, the office and the file. Now: the same piece of work is spread across a chat, an app, an inbox and a spreadsheet, and the office copy is an empty dashed outline. THEN: ONE FORM, THREE COPIES No. 0417 No. 0417 No. 0417 CUSTOMER OFFICE FILE NOW: ONE PIECE OF WORK, MANY PLACES CHAT APP INBOX SHEET ? OFFICE COPY
Then: one record, three copies. Now: the office copy is spread across everything else.

How I work

Three questions before building anything

When work keeps stalling or landing on you, I trace it with three questions. The answers usually point to something smaller than a new system.

  1. Who needs this next, and what are they trying to do?

  2. What do they need in front of them to do it without asking anyone?

  3. Where does that information live today, and whose job is it to move it?

Often the fix is a shared record, a few required fields, a named owner and a weekly review. When it isn’t, I build what the work needs:

Shared records
One per client or job, with an owner and a next action.
Connections
Tools passing details along, so nobody retypes them.
Written processes
Steps and checks, so a task isn’t stuck with one person.
Capture forms
The right fields, filled in where the work happens.
Automation
Reminders when things go overdue. Drafts when inputs are ready.
AI in the process
Set inputs, shared instructions, a person checking.

What I build, and when it earns its place

Real work

Built for my own business first

Two systems I use in my waterproofing consultancy, described as they are. Not client results.

Kevin Ly
Kevin Ly · Sydney

Who’s writing this

Hi, I’m Kevin

I run a waterproofing consultancy on systems I built myself. I’ve also consulted within my family’s business, and helped friends bring AI into their work. I like the unglamorous part: how work actually moves, and what would make it move without someone pushing.

More about me and how I work

Got something that keeps landing on your desk?

Bring one recent example to a free 30-minute call. We’ll look at where it gets stuck and what would fix it. If a guide already covers it, I’ll point you there.

Book a free 30-minute call

Booking opens Calendly. Prefer to message first? Find me on LinkedIn.