Business Strategy
Automation
The LD Efficiency Stack: A Practical Systems Framework
Use foundation, standardisation, automation and visibility to decide what evidence and improvement a workflow needs.
The practical answer
Understand the work, agree consistent rules, automate suitable steps and make results visible. Use these layers as a diagnostic aid, with proportionate outputs rather than rigid project phases.
Put your business technology questions into a broader roadmap that reflects your business goals and the resources available. Explore Tech Clarity.
The LD Efficiency Stack is a practical way to organise a business-systems review: understand the work, agree consistent ways of doing it, automate suitable steps and make the result visible. It is a planning framework, not a guarantee of performance or a requirement to run every project in four rigid phases.
The four layers and their evidence #
| Layer | Question | Useful output | Ready to move forward when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Foundation | What actually happens and where does work get stuck? | A map of one real workflow, its owners and exceptions | People doing the work recognise the map |
| 2. Standardisation | Which rules and records need to be consistent? | Agreed statuses, responsibilities, data definitions and instructions | The main decisions and exceptional cases have owners |
| 3. Automation | Which stable steps are worth removing or connecting? | A small tested workflow with failure handling | It improves the complete task, including review and support |
| 4. Visibility | How will we know what needs attention? | Current status, useful measures and an action owner | Someone can make a better decision from the information |
Example: improve a quote-approval delay #
In a fictional service business, quotes wait because requests arrive without a clear scope. Foundation work traces several examples and distinguishes missing information from approval delay. Standardisation defines the information needed and who can approve exceptions. Automation then checks required fields and routes the request. Visibility shows which requests need information and which need a decision.
The improvement may need only an existing form and task tool. Custom software is a possibility when a specific requirement remains unmet, not a mandatory third layer.
Start at the uncertain part #
If the workflow is already clear, do not repeat discovery for its own sake. If a working system has poor reporting, a focused visibility improvement may be appropriate. If an integration fails, inspect its technical behaviour as well as the process. Different parts of a business may need different work at the same time.
Keep the outputs proportionate #
A useful map can be one page. A standard can be a short definition with examples. An automation can cover one handoff. A dashboard can show three decisions. The framework helps decide what is missing; it should not create a large documentation exercise before every small improvement.
Use the framework in a review #
Choose one troublesome workflow, collect its current evidence and identify the most important unanswered question. Agree the next action, owner and measure. A Tech Clarity session can help turn that review into a staged plan.
For an existing project that has disappointed, use the separate automation post-implementation review. To draw the actual process, use the worked mapping tutorial.
A useful companion: Automation ROI Calculator.
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