~/john-jones/work/_

Systems + coaching.

I stay curious until I find the real problem, then I don't quit until it's actually fixed.

Nine years automating the Fortune 1 supply chain. Now I bring that same relentless problem-solving, and today's agentic AI tools, to mission-driven organizations that don't usually get access to either.

book a call →

what this actually looks like

Anyone can wire up a quick automation between two tools, that part's not the hard part anymore. The differentiator is one data foundation every department and every future tool connects to, instead of disconnected point-fixes that break the moment something changes. Toggle the view below, click any box.

This is the shape most automation takes: quick, disconnected fixes. Click a box to see what's actually happening in each one.

Not proprietary, this is well-understood architecture. The difference is someone with nine years of discipline actually doing it for you, not a slide about it.

who this is for

You've got something real you're building, whatever form it takes: a nonprofit or mission-driven org, a solo creative practice, a small business, a growing team.
You want your time, or your team's, back for the actual work, not more busywork a system should be handling.
You're scrappy, not because you're not good, but because you haven't had access to this kind of thinking before.
You care about what you're building enough to actually use what we build together.

I'm picky about fit, not about your budget or your tax status. If you actually care about what you're building, I'm interested. If you just want maximum headcount cut for minimum spend, we're probably not a match, plenty of consultants do that well, it's just not my game.

receipts

The scale is different. The problems aren't. Here's the proof, and where it came from:

Nine years, never missed budget or a deadline ran projects at Walmart from $55 million up to $200 million each, the kind involving robots, warehouses, and hundreds of people's daily work. Every one came in on budget and on schedule. The last one finished two months early and $1 million under budget.

Caught a bad assumption before $250M moved before a company committed a quarter-billion dollars to a plan, I checked whether the reasoning behind it actually held up. It didn't, and that changed where the money went. Same instinct as the $1M save below: check the assumption before spending it.

Treated a $50K grant like a $50M project helped a nonprofit write a grant application with the same level of budget detail and care I'd use managing a massive facility project, and found a legitimate way to use some of that money to strengthen the organization itself, not just fund one event.

Said no to $1M in new equipment a warehouse wanted to spend $1 million on a bigger sorting machine because they thought they'd run out of room to keep up with demand. We looked closer and found the real problem: not enough staff at the right times, and too much downtime. A better staffing plan fixed it completely, for free. Full story on the blog.

Cut a quote from 45 minutes to under 10 a client's quoting process ran through an old, clunky system for tracking customers and jobs, one they'd already started rebuilding from scratch by hand. Instead of copying the same limits into new software, we rebuilt it from the data up: a foundation future tools can build on, instead of getting torn down and redone every time something changes.

A day of analysis down to 3 hours warehouse planning work that used to take a full day of manual spreadsheet work now takes about three hours, using an automated process that does the same careful analysis, just faster.

what I actually measure

not: token counts. how flashy the agent looks. feature lists.

what counts: hours you get back. time returned to the people doing the actual mission. less stress because you can finally see what's going on.

how we'd work together

01 / playbook Find the real problem
I dig into what's actually happening and hand you a clear, written plan. Act on it with me or without me.
02 / hub install Build and ship the fix
The system gets built and goes live, your team trained to run it. Working when I leave, not a slide deck.
03 / embedded support Stay in it with you
Ongoing support as problems evolve. This is the coaching side: I stay in it for as long as you want me around.

Most people start at 01, not because it's cheap, because it's honest: you get real value even if you never hire me for anything else. Book a call above and we'll figure out which one, if any, actually fits.

Quick check before you book:

→ Do you have a real problem, not just a want for a system that looks nice?

→ Are you the person who can actually act on what we find, or close enough to them?

→ Willing to look at where the time and money actually goes, even if it's uncomfortable?

→ Not sure? Book anyway. The first call costs you 30 minutes, not a decision.

let's talk →

say hi: john@gentlyjack.com