{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/deliver-the-small-service-before-automating-its-machinery",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1099",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Deliver the small service before automating its machinery",
  "summary": "An automation plan can hide an untested service.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "Offer a clearly bounded manual pilot to a suitable user. Agree the output, limits and human involvement, then deliver the useful result. Record the effort and repeat demand before deciding which part deserves software.",
  "limits": [
    "Manual success does not prove automation feasibility, scalable economics or broad demand. Do not promise support capacity you do not have."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "product-discovery-50"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-39A2667CF2BEBFB8"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "Graham describes manually serving early users as a way to learn before scaling a service.",
      "source_id": "RS-39A2667CF2BEBFB8",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "Practitioner advice, not causal evidence that a concierge pilot predicts commercial success.",
      "locator": "Manual work discussion."
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "You are building infrastructure for a benefit nobody has received yet."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Manual success does not prove automation feasibility, scalable economics or broad demand. Do not promise support capacity you do not have."
  ],
  "example": "Before building a full corpus subscription system, a pilot delivers a small, source-checked selection for one recurring work problem.",
  "check": "Did the user receive a useful outcome, and can you explain the cost of repeating the service?",
  "steps": [
    "Choose a small outcome you can actually deliver without pretending the service is automated.",
    "Agree scope, access, confidentiality and any payment terms.",
    "Record delivery effort, revisions and whether the user would seek the service again."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-39A2667CF2BEBFB8",
      "title": "Do Things that Don’t Scale",
      "url": "https://paulgraham.com/ds.html"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1099",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-1095",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/record-the-episode-while-its-context-is-still-available"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-B54B60261508AF85",
      "title": "Find the user problem before building more machinery",
      "url": "/collections/find-the-user-problem-before-building-more-machinery"
    }
  ]
}