# The Workflow Diagnostic: five working days on one business workflow > A fixed, five working day look at one workflow in your business: where it breaks, what is worth automating, and a written plan with a fixed quote to build it. The Workflow Diagnostic is a look at one workflow in your business over five working days. You get where the work breaks, which steps are worth automating and which should stay with a person, and a written plan that carries a fixed quote for building it. ## What you get - Where the workflow breaks: the places it repeats, stalls or moves only because someone remembered. - A sorted map of its steps, with the reason each one is worth automating or should stay with a person. - A written plan for the build, in the order it should happen, with a fixed quote to build it. ## Five days, one workflow The five days run in a fixed order: choose the workflow, walk it end to end, put numbers on it, sort every step, write the plan. 1. **Day one: choose the workflow** You and I settle which workflow to look at, the one holding growth back, and who in your business runs it. 2. **Day two: walk it end to end** I trace it from the moment it starts to the moment it is done, with the people who run it, and mark every place where it repeats, stalls or waits on someone. 3. **Day three: put numbers on it** How often it runs, whose hours it takes and what a slip does to the business. Those numbers decide what is worth building first. 4. **Day four: sort every step** Each step is automated, handed to AI where it needs judgment on messy text, kept as a plain rule, or left with a person. A step is worth automating when it repeats, the information it starts with is clean and a mistake is cheap. A step where judgment or a costly mistake is involved stays with a person. 5. **Day five: write the plan** The map, the numbers, the sorted steps and the quote to build them go into one written document. ## What I need from you It covers one workflow, the one you choose on day one, such as how new leads get answered or how a new client is set up. I need time with whoever runs it, in an amount agreed on day one, and a look at the documents and screens they already work from. Nothing needs to be written down first. ## What the diagnostic costs The Workflow Diagnostic is C$1,750 fixed, in Canadian dollars, for five working days on one workflow. If you build with SignalNine within 30 days of the plan, the fee comes off the build price. The quote to build it is in the plan. [Work out what coordination costs you](https://signalnine.io/tools/coordination-cost) ## If nothing is worth automating A few steps may be best left with a person, and the plan names them and says why. If no step is worth automating, the plan says so and gives the reasons. That is a complete result: you know where the work belongs with people, and nothing is built. ## How to start To start, say what is holding growth back, in your own words. A few lines is enough. I reply within one business day, and the scope is confirmed in writing before any invoice. ## Questions **Does the diagnostic commit me to a build?** No. The plan stands on its own, and what happens next is your call. **How many workflows does it cover?** One. The plan can point to the next one worth looking at. **Can I talk first?** Yes. Book a call from the contact page and ask about the diagnostic there. [BOOK A CALL](https://cal.com/mashrur-signalnine/30min) [EMAIL ME](mailto:inquiry@signalnine.io?subject=Workflow%20Diagnostic&body=Hi%20Mashrur%2C%0A%0AI%20would%20like%20to%20ask%20about%20the%20Workflow%20Diagnostic.%0A%0AWhat's%20holding%20our%20growth%20back%3A%0A%0AThanks.) No mail app on this device? Write to inquiry@signalnine.io. ## Related - [How a business system gets built, map to handover](https://signalnine.io/md/how-it-works): How a business system gets built: map one workflow, put numbers on it, build the simplest fix, measure it, and hand it over. - [Contact SignalNine](https://signalnine.io/md/contact): Book a thirty-minute call, or email what's holding growth back. Once it's clear what to build, you get a written fixed-price quote. - [Questions owners ask before hiring me to build business systems](https://signalnine.io/md/faq): What owners ask before hiring: what gets built, who owns it, how approvals work, what happens when something breaks, and how the price is set. - [What does coordination cost your business each year?](https://signalnine.io/md/tools/coordination-cost): Turn your leads, proposals and active projects into the hours your people spend coordinating each month, and what that time costs you in a year. --- Mashrur Rahman, Founder, SignalNine. Published 2026-10-29, updated 2026-10-29. Id: diagnostic Canonical: https://signalnine.io/diagnostic