These are demonstration builds I made to show how I work, not client projects. The client engagements are on the case studies. Everything below is the method I would follow on a real build, with worked examples you are welcome to use yourself.
Inbox & File Organisation
An inbox used as a to-do list and a filing system, where important messages sink and files are found by searching rather than knowing.
What it looks like in practice
The inbox is the to-do list, the filing cabinet and the archive all at once. Important messages sink under newsletters, files are found by searching for a word somebody half remembers, and two people are quietly editing two versions of the same document.
How I build it
- Separate what needs action from what is only reference.
- Build a folder structure that matches how the business actually works.
- Agree one file naming convention, including dates.
- Set up filters and labels so routine mail sorts itself.
- Write the two-page guide so the system survives the person who built it.
What is included
- Inbox sorting
- A folder structure
- File naming support
- Priority notes
A naming convention that sorts itself
2026-09-29_client-name_document-type_v2
Dates first in year, month, day order, so files sort chronologically without any effort. Client name second, so everything for one client groups together. Version last, so revisions stay adjacent.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Folders built around who sent something rather than what happens next
- A naming convention agreed once and never used again
- Everything kept, so search returns forty near identical files
- Rules that file messages before anybody has read them
What it is like once it works
The inbox holds what still needs doing and nothing else, files sort themselves into the right order because their names start with a date, and finding something is navigation rather than a search.
You probably need this if: You search rather than navigate; Two people keep two versions of the same file.
Reporting & Data Support
Numbers rebuilt by hand every week, differently each time, so the trend cannot be trusted.
What it looks like in practice
The weekly numbers take a morning, and they take a morning because they are rebuilt from scratch each time. Ask two people for last month and you get two answers, both defensible, which means neither can be used to decide anything.
How I build it
- Fix the source data first, because a report on messy data is a tidy mistake.
- Agree definitions and write them down.
- Build the template once, with the calculations inside it.
- Automate the repetitive part, usually the new week's rows.
- Add the short written summary, which is the part people read.
What is included
- A weekly report format
- Data clean-up
- Summary notes
- Action items
The rules that keep a weekly report comparable
Write down how you treat the awkward cases before they occur: staff absences, internal meetings, work covered by someone else, refunds, and anything counted in two places. Without those rules the same week produces different numbers depending on who built the report, and the trend line becomes meaningless.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Figures pulled on different days of the week
- A formula changed to fix one cell and left changed
- Raw data and workings living in the same sheet
- No written definition, so each person interprets a field differently
What it is like once it works
The same pull, on the same day, through the same steps, with the method written down. The morning becomes twenty minutes and the trend becomes something worth acting on.
You probably need this if: Every report takes a morning; Two people produce different numbers for the same week.
Calendar & Appointment Coordination
A diary managed across email threads, where double bookings and missed details are routine.
What it looks like in practice
Finding a time takes eleven emails. Half the meetings start late because the invitation carries no link, no address and no agenda, and somebody is sitting in the wrong platform waiting for everyone else.
How I build it
- Put every commitment in one calendar, including travel and preparation.
- Set availability rules so booking links cannot create impossible days.
- Standardise what an invitation contains: place, joining link, agenda, documents.
- Add reminders for both sides.
- Confirm the following day each afternoon, which prevents most problems.
What is included
- Calendar updates
- Reminder notes
- Availability checks
- Follow-up messages
What every invitation should contain
- What the meeting is for, in one line
- Where, or the joining link
- Who is attending
- Anything to read beforehand
- How long it will take
Buffers matter as much as the entries. Back-to-back bookings with no travel or preparation time are how a diary starts running late and never recovers.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Times proposed without checking the other person in the room
- Invitations with no location, link or purpose
- Back to back bookings with no travel or thinking time
- Changes made in the calendar without telling anybody
What it is like once it works
One link offers the times that genuinely work, every invitation carries the who, where and why, and the first five minutes of a meeting are the meeting rather than a search for the joining details.
You probably need this if: Meetings start late by default; You are copied on threads to find a time.
Research & Lead List Building
Outreach into a list nobody verified, where half the contacts bounce and the rest were never a fit.
What it looks like in practice
A list arrives from somewhere. A fifth of it bounces, a good number go to people who left the company a year ago, and most of the rest were never the kind of business that buys this. The campaign gets judged on those results.
How I build it
- Define the fit precisely: sector, size, location, and the sign they need this now.
- Find them in sources you can check, not scraped lists of unknown origin.
- Verify the essentials, especially email, before anything is sent.
- Record why each one qualified, which makes the outreach personal and the list reusable.
- Keep the source link against every row so anything can be re-checked.
What is included
- A lead list sheet
- Contact details
- Source links
- Qualification notes
The columns worth keeping
Company, contact name, role, verified email, source link, the signal that qualified them, and the date checked.
The signal column is the one most lists lack and the one that makes outreach work, because it gives you a real reason for writing.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Buying volume instead of building fit
- No note of where a contact came from or when it was checked
- One person spot checking their own work
- Collecting fields that will never be used in a message
What it is like once it works
A smaller list where every row has been verified and dated, the criteria are written at the top, and a reply tells you something about the offer rather than about the data.
You probably need this if: Your outreach bounces; Replies say you have the wrong person.
CRM Contact List Clean-Up
A contact export that cannot be imported: inconsistent fields, duplicates, and phone numbers in five formats.
What it looks like in practice
The export will not import. Phone numbers appear in five formats, some names sit in one column and some in two, and the last attempt created several hundred duplicates that somebody removed by hand over two evenings.
How I build it
- Work on a copy, always, and keep the original untouched.
- Standardise formats: phone to international, dates to one pattern, names split properly.
- Find duplicates on more than email alone, since the same person often has two addresses.
- Fill the fields the CRM needs, and drop the ones it does not.
- Run a test import of a small batch before committing the rest.
What is included
- A duplicate check
- Field formatting
- Tag and category columns
- An import-ready file
The formatting rules that prevent a failed import
- Phone numbers in full international format, including the country code
- First and last name in separate columns
- One date format throughout, ideally year, month, day
- No merged cells, no colour used to mean anything
- One row per contact, no blank rows
Where it usually goes wrong
- Importing before testing on a small sample
- Splitting names automatically and mangling every compound surname
- Deleting duplicates rather than merging, losing the history
- No backup of the file as it was before the clean-up
What it is like once it works
One row per person, fields in formats the system accepts, a sample imported and checked first, and the original file kept exactly as it arrived in case anybody asks.
You probably need this if: Your last import created hundreds of duplicates; Merge fields print the wrong name.
SOP & Documentation Support
A process that lives in one person's head, which becomes a crisis the week they are unavailable.
What it looks like in practice
One person knows how it is done. That works perfectly until the week they are away, when it turns out nobody else knows which invoice goes where, who signs it off, or why Thursday matters.
How I build it
- Watch the task being done and record it, rather than asking for a description.
- Write the steps in the order they happen, in plain language.
- Add a screenshot at every point where someone could take a wrong turn.
- Note the exceptions, because those are what people actually get stuck on.
- Have someone else follow it, unaided, and fix what they trip over.
What is included
- An SOP draft
- A checklist version
- Screenshots or placeholders
- Process notes
The structure I use
- Purpose. What this achieves and when to run it.
- Before you start. Access, tools, information needed.
- Steps. Numbered, one action each.
- Exceptions. What to do when it does not go to plan.
- Done means. How to know it worked.
The test is simple: someone who has never done the task should complete it without asking a question.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Written by the expert for the expert, so it skips what is obvious to them
- No screenshots, so a step is described but not recognisable
- Stored somewhere nobody thinks to look
- Never revised, so it quietly stops matching the actual process
What it is like once it works
Somebody who has not done the task before can complete it correctly from the document, and the person who used to be the only one who could is free to be away.
You probably need this if: One person is a single point of failure; Training happens by sitting beside someone.
Email Template & Client Communication
Routine messages written from scratch each time, so tone varies, replies are slow and awkward situations get avoided.
What it looks like in practice
The same message is written from scratch every week, slightly differently each time. The awkward ones, the chase, the apology and the price change, sit in drafts for two days, because starting them is the hard part.
How I build it
- List the messages that recur: enquiries, quotes, chasers, updates, bad news.
- Write each once, in the business's voice, with the blanks marked clearly.
- Keep them short, because long messages delay replies in both directions.
- Give every message one clear action.
- Store them where they are actually used, in the CRM or inbox, not a document.
What is included
- Email templates
- Follow-up messages
- Status updates
- Reminder copy
The templates worth writing first
- Enquiry acknowledgement, sent within minutes
- Quote or proposal covering note
- Polite chaser, for the second and third attempt
- Project update, so clients do not have to ask
- Delay or bad news, which is the one everyone puts off writing
The last one is the most valuable. Having the words ready is what makes the message go out on time.
Where it usually goes wrong
- Templates so rigid they read as form letters
- No version for the awkward messages, which are the ones that need it
- Placeholders left unfilled and sent
- A tone that shifts depending on who happens to be replying
What it is like once it works
The routine messages take a minute and sound like the same business every time, and the difficult ones get sent today, because the first paragraph is already written.
You probably need this if: You rewrite the same email weekly; Difficult messages sit in drafts.