Products

Industrial configuration & quotation tool

Excel formula → hidden rules system → 2-day AI-directed prototype → paid production product → default workflow → paid iterations.

Context

A legacy Excel + Word configuration and quotation workflow depended on an Excel formula and a larger hidden rules system. Those rules were turned into a 2-day AI-directed prototype, then a paid production product that became the default workflow and received paid iterations.

My Role

Owned

  • Product direction
  • AI-assisted development
  • Outcome validation

The Problem

Turn a slow Excel + Word configuration and quotation workflow and its hidden rules into a production product with explicit compatibility guardrails that reduced the task from hours to minutes.

Constraints

  • The legacy workflow combined Excel + Word and took roughly 2–3+ hours.
  • Technical, business and chemical compatibility rules needed explicit guardrails.
  • Client identity and internal codes must remain anonymous.

System Map

Reconstructed explanatory map

  1. 01Legacy Excel + Word
  2. 02Excel formula + hidden rules
  3. 03Compatibility guardrails
  4. 042-day AI-directed prototype
  5. 05Paid production product
  6. 06Default workflow + paid iterations

Key Decisions

  1. Make hidden rules explicit

    Treat the Excel formula as the visible edge of a larger rules system.

  2. Encode compatibility guardrails

    Make technical, business and chemical compatibility explicit in the product workflow.

  3. Prototype the rules in two days

    Turn the rules system into a 2-day AI-directed prototype.

  4. Carry the prototype into production

    Develop the prototype into a paid production product that became the default workflow and received paid iterations.

Inside the Work

  • Legacy Excel + Word workflow
  • Excel formula + hidden rules
  • Technical compatibility guardrails
  • Business compatibility guardrails
  • Chemical compatibility guardrails
  • 2-day AI-directed prototype
  • Paid production product
  • Default workflow
  • Paid iterations

Before → Learning → After

Before
Legacy Excel + Word workflow taking roughly 2–3+ hours.
Learning
The Excel formula was only the visible edge of a larger hidden rules system that needed explicit compatibility guardrails.
After
A paid production product reducing the workflow to minutes and becoming the default workflow.

What Shipped

A paid production configuration and quotation product with technical, business and chemical compatibility guardrails that became the default workflow and received paid iterations.

Outcomes

Fact
  • Roughly 2–3+ hours before.
  • Production workflow reduces the task to minutes.
  • Reduced mistakes/inconsistency.
  • Paid production product.
  • Default workflow.
  • Paid iterations.
Interpretation
The case demonstrates turning an opaque rules-heavy workflow into explicit software through product direction, AI-assisted development and outcome validation.

Provenance

  • Public facts are limited to the approved portfolio design spec and this case-study packet.
  • Ownership: Product direction · AI-assisted development · Outcome validation.
  • Client identity and internal codes remain anonymous; raw source documents are not published.
  • The current manufacturing extension is still being built and is not presented as validated.
  • The system map is a reconstructed explanatory visual based only on approved public facts.