Products / 06Beta

    Autonomous software

    Software that changes when the operation changes.It works out the goal itself. You build the walls.

    We take one of your processes and build software around it that moves with it. The brief is the source, the code only its shape for today: when the operation shifts, what gets rewritten is the brief, not the application. This is a beta. It runs on us for now and we are taking on a few companies who want to try it with us.

    How it goes at your place
    01Pick a process

    One that keeps changing and that somebody is forever tuning by hand.

    02Write the brief

    What has to hold true about it. With whoever does the work, not from a desk.

    03Set the measure

    How you tell the result is right. Before the first line of code.

    04Start the loop

    It builds, measures and fixes on its own. You release it to production.

    § 01Who holds the goal

    A tool follows an order. An agent holds a goal. This works the goal out.

    What separates this from what a company can try on its own is not the model. It is how much of the deciding stays with people. A gradient is what has to keep holding true about the operation. The software works out from it what needs doing now.

    CEILING · A PERSON RELEASESPEOPLEDECIDESOFTWAREDECIDESToolGETS AN ORDERAgentGETS A GOALAutonomous softwareGETS A GRADIENT
    From left to right, less has to be typed in by a person. That is not more freedom: it is more that has to be written down and measurable up front.
    § 02The brief is the source

    Same brief, different company, different shape.

    The brief holds what has to be true. The shape comes later, from whatever it is poured into. The brief stays yours even once we are done.

    The briefWHAT HAS TO HOLD TRUEFew systems,many peopleMany systems,few exceptionsCANNOT MOVEA system thatcannot be
    There is one brief. The shape differs by what already stands in the company. What has to stand, the software flows around. It does not replace it with itself.
    § 03The loop and the measure

    A loop without a measure runs blind.

    The loop itself is the easy part: build, run, fix, again. The hard part is knowing whether this round is better than the last one. That is why we build the measure before the first line of code.

    RUNS CONTINUOUSLY, UNATTENDED01Brief02Build03Dry run04Measure05Find the gap06Amend the briefGateA PERSONProduction
    The loop runs on its own. One path leads out of it and a person stands on it.
    § 04Water and bedrock

    The water line decides what can be poured.

    The data model, third party systems and whatever the company has signed are solid ground. What bends is what sits above them. Where the water line runs is agreed at the start and written down.

    WaterCHANGED BY THE LOOPWATER LINEBedrockCHANGED BY AGREEMENTInterfaces and formsHow the work flowsException rulesReports and copyData modelThird party systemsAccess and rolesWhat is signed
    The water line is set by agreement, not by technology. The more sits in the bedrock, the less runs by itself and the more certain it is.
    § 05What stays with you

    We leave and you hold the source.

    You are buying the brief and the way software comes out of it, not an application you then keep buying from us. You can take both elsewhere.

    01The brief

    Readable by you and by a machine. The source of truth, not documentation written afterwards.

    02The loop

    Runs on your side or on ours. Where the data has to sit decides which.

    03The measure

    The criteria that tell you the operation is running right. They hold without us too.

    04The record

    What changed and when, why the loop did it and who released it into production.

    § 06Boundaries

    Where autonomous software ends.

    • A process that has not moved in years is not worth building this way. Plain automation comes cheaper and we will say so.
    • A task with no machine readable notion of a correct result is one we will talk you out of. The loop would run blind and fast.
    • Data and third party systems stay as they are. What flows is the logic above them, not the database underneath.
    • A person releases every change into production. We do not remove that gate, not even on request.
    • Getting started rests on your people. We write the brief with whoever does the work, otherwise it becomes a neat document about a different company.
    • Beta means the way we work is still changing. What holds today may look different in a month.
    § 07Beta

    We are looking for companies who want to try this with us.

    We take one of your processes, write a brief and a measure for it and build a loop around it. You see the whole kitchen, we learn on a real operation.

    What beta means
    • We take on few companies and go all in on them.
    • The way we work changes along the way and you are there for it.
    • If it does not work out on your process, we say so and we do not drag it out.

    Beta · in development, limited number of companies