The field notes

A clearer starting point.
A more useful next step.

Free, practical guides for the decisions that come before a build. Choose a workflow, define a manageable first project, or decide which information would help your team act.

Find your starting guideGet the project worksheet

Choose your starting point

One question. Something useful to take away.

Start with the guide that matches your decision. Each includes illustrative examples, questions to work through with your team, and a concrete output you can use in a project conversation.

01 / Getting started

Choose a workflow worth improving.

Several tasks feel inefficient, and you need to decide which one deserves attention first. Leave with: One workflow, a simple baseline, and a short list of questions to investigate.

6 min read
Read the guide

02 / Planning a project

Give a pilot a clear finish line.

You have a promising workflow in mind and need to define what a first project should include. Leave with: A scope outline, acceptance checks, cost questions, and a handover checklist.

6 min read
Read the guide

03 / Making decisions

Choose measures that help you act.

You have reports or source data but still struggle to see what needs attention or why. Leave with: A metric definition, a data-quality checklist, and a practical review routine.

6 min read
Read the guide

Make the reading useful

Bring the people who know the work.

A useful brief starts with the day-to-day details. Work through the questions with someone who performs the task and someone who depends on its result.

Use a recent, redacted example to make the conversation concrete. Walk through the normal path, then the exception that causes the most difficulty. Write down what is known, what is estimated, and what needs investigation.

  • Describe the change in terms of a useful outcome for the people doing the work.
  • Consider setup effort, software costs, team review, and ongoing ownership together.
  • Choose how feedback will be shared and who can make scope decisions.
  • Keep examples free of passwords, private customer records, and confidential business information.

You can use these guides on your own or as preparation for a conversation with Palmetto. Reading or downloading them does not require an account or subscribe you to a mailing list.

See how a project can take shape

A simple worksheet

Put your starting point on one page.

Turn the notes from your guide into a short brief: what happens today, where the friction sits, and what a useful first improvement could look like.

Download the one-page PDF worksheet to annotate in a PDF reader or print and complete by hand. The project inquiry form asks the same starting questions. You do not need to know which technology to choose.

  • The workflow you want to improve.
  • The people, tools, and information involved.
  • A starting measure and a useful first outcome.
  • The constraints that should shape the scope.
Download the blank PDF worksheet

Questions you cannot answer yet are useful context too. Note any uncertainty about access, budget, timing, or who will maintain the result. When you’re ready, scan your completed brief and email it to the address on the worksheet, or use our online inquiry form.

Use the online project brief

Make room for what matters

Bring a clearer question to the conversation.

Share the workflow, the people involved, and what you want to learn or improve. Include the constraints that matter so the first project can be scoped around the work.

Turn your notes into an inquiry