Bottleneck Discovery
You know what is slowing the business down. Do you know why?
One workflow keeps causing delays, rework or frustration. We follow the work and its dependencies to establish what is causing the problem, what it costs and which changes would help.
From £5,000 · Fixed fee after scoping
This is for you if
- Everyone is busy, but throughput has not moved in a year
- Work sits waiting far longer than it takes to do
- The same stage is always “where things get stuck”, and nobody has measured it
- Hiring has been the answer twice, and it worked less well the second time
- Quotes, jobs or orders are lost to how long the process takes rather than to price
Prefer email? hello@innovaite.co.uk
Request a scoping conversation
Tell us what you are seeing. We will reply to arrange a free, no-obligation conversation about whether Bottleneck Discovery fits.
Checking online enquiry availability. You can also contact us by email.
Email hello@innovaite.co.ukTell us what you are seeing in the business and which Discovery interests you. Please do not include confidential records or credentials.
How we handle enquiriesEvidence, gathered where the work actually happens.
The real path a unit of work takes, as it happens rather than as documented
Where time is spent waiting versus being worked on
Handovers, approvals and rework loops
Which constraint moves the others when it is relieved
What the constraint costs, in money, per month
A decision-ready audit package you can act on without us.
You receive a decision-ready evidence pack, written audit report and live interactive findings presentation. Conclusions, calculations and recommendations are linked to evidence and can be challenged during the readout. Implementation remains optional.
Not for: Situations where the root cause, intervention and implementation requirements have already been independently verified.
See an illustrative finding →- 01A ranked list of constraints, each with the evidence behind it
- 02An estimate of the primary constraint’s cost, with the calculation and confidence shown
- 03Options to relieve it, with effort, cost and risk for each
- 04A clear recommendation — including where the answer is not technology
Six stages, with clear decision boundaries.
- 01
Understand
Define the pain, its impact and the decision the business needs to make.
- 02
Observe
Follow the affected workflow as it actually operates.
- 03
Verify
Test claims against records, data, exceptions and the people doing the work.
- 04
Diagnose
Establish the root cause and what it costs.
- 05
Compare
Evaluate process, integration, software, automation and AI options.
- 06
Recommend
Present the best-supported intervention and its implementation requirements.
What it costs
From £5,000
Every Discovery engagement is scoped before commencement and quoted as a fixed fee.
US on-site Discovery engagements from $15,000.
Your quote sets out the agreed scope, inclusions, any applicable taxes and travel costs. Additional work needs approval before the scope changes.
- The size of the operation and how many sites or teams are in scope
- How much evidence already exists versus needs gathering
- Whether the question is one process or the whole business
- How many people need to be interviewed or observed
Your business, your data
Human-led, AI-assisted and evidence-controlled. Recording, attribution, access, providers and retention need to be agreed before evidence is shared.
- Confidential from the start. An NDA comes before commercially sensitive material. We request only evidence relevant to the agreed question.
- Clear access and retention. Interview attribution, permitted processing and return or deletion are agreed first. The findings do not expose every raw staff account or restricted source.
- A named person, an optional next step. Material findings receive human review. Your rights to the outputs are agreed in writing; implementation is a separate decision. Underlying methods and software remain proprietary.
What people ask before they commit.
What will the investigation establish?
We trace the defined problem to its causes, estimate the impact using available evidence and compare interventions. The report shows calculations, assumptions and evidence gaps, so you can judge the recommendation.
How long does it take?
The delivery window depends on the sites, teams, process variants and evidence in scope. Your written proposal sets out the timeline, dependencies and time needed from your team before you commit.
How disruptive is it to the team?
Low. Most of the evidence comes from observing work as it already happens plus short interviews with the people doing it. We work around your operation rather than pausing it.
What if the answer is something we already suspected?
Then you have evidence to test that suspicion and a clearer estimate of its impact. Confirming a hypothesis can be useful; it does not guarantee that a bank, board or co-owner will approve an intervention.
Will my team think this is about their performance?
It examines processes, not individuals, and findings are never delivered as a case against a named employee. We say this openly to teams at the start, because guarded interviews produce bad evidence.
Do we have to use you for the fix?
No. Discovery is deliberately separable from implementation — the findings are yours to hand to your own team, another supplier, or nobody. There is no discount that depends on taking us on afterwards.
Not quite your question?
Tell us what you are seeing.
Free scoping conversation, no obligation. If Discovery is not right for you, we will say so then rather than after an invoice.