Long before I was directing AI tools, I was mapping how businesses actually run, one step and one system at a time. These are the maps, the research, and the kind words from the years before AI joined the work.
Client names and details are taken out of everything on this page except the client praise, which my clients gave me permission to share.
- What
- Systems, processes and operations
- For
- Over a decade
- Tools
- Lucidchart, spreadsheets, and a great many free trials
- Habit
- Map the process before choosing the system
- Status
- Still curious
I can’t leave a new system alone
I was researching systems and alternatives for clients constantly, so I built a Systems Database: every kind of system a small business runs on, what it must have, what would be nice to have, which integrations it needs, and which tools were in the running. And as a very curious person, I loved seeking out new ones for myself too.
Before anything made a shortlist, I checked that it connected to the systems the business couldn’t live without, and which direction the data would flow between them.
In June 2016, while checking out project management systems, I signed up for 24 tools in three days: CRMs, time trackers, kanban boards, invoicing, help desks, proposal tools.
I love love love this stuff.
The process comes before the system
I never put in a system until I understood the process behind it.
A new system is never just a new system. It’s setup, configuration, deployment, onboarding, and then the long, slow work of getting people to actually adopt it. Once I understood how the work really moved, the better fix was often a change to the process itself, and the new tool was never needed at all.
Pick one to see what it takes.
Process maps, redrawn
I drew more than 200 diagrams like these for clients and for my own business. Here are three process maps and one systems audit, redrawn in this site’s style. On the maps, each step shows who does it and which tools it uses. Tap any pill to see what it is.
Where I learned all this
Presidio
Director of Product Management- Led end-to-end project management for a B2B software platform, turning complex requirements into clear plans for technical teams and the C-suite.
- Coordinated system rollouts across departments and drove the change management behind them, reaching 95% adoption.
- Designed remote and in-person training for more than 2,000 employees.
- Found process gaps during each implementation and streamlined the workflows around them.
Joyce Akiko Consulting
Operations Consultant- Fractional roles with fast-growing clients, including Chief Operating Officer, Head of People and Operations, and Director of Operations.
- Built and tuned the core systems businesses run on: CRMs, course platforms, email marketing funnels, payment systems and bookkeeping tools.
- Led client automation work that cut manual tasks by 38%.
- Set up KPI and OKR frameworks, and the hiring, onboarding and training processes behind steady team growth.
Nurturely Work
Senior Company Culture Consultant- Implemented the company’s project management system and managed a team of 4 delivering projects end to end, with more than 98% on time and on budget.
- Directed a client initiative on retention and team performance that produced the lowest turnover in over 10 years.
- Designed and delivered training for teams of 3 to 500.
My favorite part: being the right hand
At Nurturely Work, my favorite part of the job was being my boss’s right hand. She’d come up with an idea, sometimes starting with “I don’t even know how we’d do this, but I’d love it if we could…” and I’d say got it. Then I’d go make it happen.
Knowing her, the company and our clients as well as I did, that one sentence was all I needed to research the idea, build it out, and turn it into something real. I loved that work. I LOVED it.
Years before that, a consulting client sent me a photo of his own handwriting after seeing one of my process maps. We had a good laugh, and he started calling me the left to his right.
She’d say “I don’t even know how we’d do this…” and I’d say GOT IT.
What my clients said
From my consulting years, shared with their permission. There’s more of that work at joyceakiko.com (opens in a new tab).
These days
Today my day job is heavy on compliance, where following procedures accurately is the whole point. Alongside that, I regularly bring ideas for how our department could run more efficiently, through updated processes, system enhancements, and AI.
Everything else on this site, every AI build included, happens in my spare time: on weekends, and in the early hours before I head to work. If you want to see where all of this went next, start with my operating system for working with AI.
Same curiosity. New tools.