How We Work

A proven, collaborative methodology from discovery to deployment—and beyond.

Our Four-Phase Methodology

We've refined this approach across dozens of automation and AI projects. It balances speed with thoroughness, delivers early value, and ensures your team can maintain what we build.

01

Discover

Understand your processes, pain points, and priorities

02

Design

Architect the solution with security, cost, and maintainability in mind

03

Build

Develop in sprints with continuous testing and feedback

04

Operate

Deploy, monitor, document, and optionally manage ongoing

Phase 01

Discover

Duration: 1–3 weeks

What We Do

Discovery is about understanding your current state, identifying the real problem, and defining success criteria. We don't start building until we've mapped your workflows, understood your data, and confirmed the business case.

Activities

Stakeholder Interviews

We talk to the people doing the work—not just leadership. We need to understand the day-to-day pain points.

Process Mapping

Current-state workflow diagrams showing bottlenecks, handoffs, and inefficiencies.

Data Access Review

What systems hold your data? What APIs exist? What permissions are needed?

Use Case Prioritization

Not everything needs automation. We rank opportunities by impact, effort, and ROI.

Security & Compliance Review

Data handling requirements, compliance obligations, approval workflows.

ROI Projection

Estimated time savings, error reduction, and payback timeline.

Deliverables

  • Current-state and future-state process maps
  • Use-case prioritization matrix (impact vs. effort)
  • Data access and integration assessment
  • ROI model with cost projections and payback timeline
  • Discovery report with recommendations
  • Fixed-price proposal for next phases
Phase 02

Design

Duration: 1–2 weeks

What We Do

Design is where we turn discovery insights into a technical blueprint. We make architectural decisions, plan integrations, and define acceptance criteria—all before writing a single line of code.

Activities

Architecture Design

System components, data flows, integration points, and technology choices.

Security Planning

Authentication, permissions, data encryption, audit logging.

Cost Modeling

API usage costs, compute, storage, and ongoing operating expenses.

Acceptance Criteria

Clear success metrics: accuracy thresholds, performance targets, error handling.

Risk Assessment

Technical risks, dependencies, and mitigation strategies.

Test Plan

How we'll validate functionality, edge cases, and error handling.

Deliverables

  • Architecture diagram (system components and data flows)
  • Integration specifications (APIs, authentication, data formats)
  • Security and compliance plan
  • Detailed cost model (build + operating costs)
  • Acceptance criteria and test plan
  • Sprint plan with milestones
Phase 03

Build

Duration: 4–16 weeks (depending on complexity)

What We Do

Build is where we develop the automation or AI system in short, iterative sprints. You'll see working functionality every 1–2 weeks, with continuous opportunities to test, provide feedback, and refine.

Our Build Process

Sprint Cadence (1–2 weeks)

We work in short sprints with clear goals and deliverables each cycle.

Continuous Integration

Code is version-controlled, tested, and deployed to staging environments regularly.

Testing & Validation

Unit tests, integration tests, and evaluation suites (especially for AI agents).

Weekly Demos

You see progress weekly. We review together, collect feedback, adjust priorities.

Quality Standards

Error Handling

Graceful failures, retries, alerts

Monitoring

Logs, metrics, performance tracking

Security

Secrets management, permissions, audit logs

Documentation

Code comments, API docs, architecture notes

Deliverables

  • Production-ready code (version-controlled repository)
  • Test suites and evaluation reports (especially for AI)
  • Integration with your existing systems
  • Monitoring and alerting setup
  • Technical documentation and API references
Phase 04

Operate

Duration: 1–2 weeks deployment + optional ongoing support

What We Do

Operate is about getting the system into production, ensuring your team can maintain it, and (optionally) providing managed support. We don't just hand off code—we ensure successful adoption.

Activities

Production Deployment

Move from staging to production with zero downtime, monitoring, and rollback plans.

Team Training

Hands-on training for your team: how it works, how to troubleshoot, how to extend.

Documentation Handoff

Runbooks, troubleshooting guides, architecture docs, API references.

Monitoring Setup

Dashboards, alerts, logging, and performance tracking.

Pilot Period

We monitor closely for the first 2–4 weeks, handling any issues that arise.

Knowledge Transfer

Code walkthrough, decision rationale, future enhancement guidance.

Ongoing Support Options

Self-Managed

Your team manages the system independently. We provide full documentation and an optional support retainer for questions.

Complete Documentation Email Support (optional) No Ongoing Fees

Managed Support

We handle monitoring, maintenance, updates, and optimization. You focus on your core business.

24/7 Monitoring Bug Fixes & Updates Performance Optimization Monthly Reports

Deliverables

  • Production deployment with monitoring
  • Complete documentation package (runbooks, troubleshooting, architecture)
  • Team training sessions (live + recorded)
  • Monitoring dashboards and alerting setup
  • Post-deployment support (2–4 weeks included)
  • Future enhancement roadmap

Our Working Principles

What you can expect when working with OptimizeLeap

Transparency

No surprises. We share progress, challenges, and costs openly. You always know where we are and what's next.

Collaboration

This is a partnership. We work closely with your team, incorporate feedback, and ensure you're part of key decisions.

Pragmatism

We recommend what works, not what's trendy. Sometimes the answer is "don't build this yet" or "use a simpler tool."

Maintainability

We build systems your team can understand and maintain. No black boxes, no proprietary lock-in.

Security-First

Security, privacy, and compliance aren't afterthoughts—they're baked into our design process from day one.

Results-Focused

We measure success by business outcomes: time saved, errors reduced, costs lowered, revenue protected.

Ready to Get Started?

Let's begin with a discovery call. We'll understand your challenge, explore whether automation or AI makes sense, and outline a clear path forward.