TPAi — spine v1

Sources → Verbatims

Kickoff workshop boards figjam · 2026-01-06
- “Better briefs to begin with?  A brief agent??” teamon-task kept
- “Organisational knowledge - particularly with new team members” teamon-task kept
- “Clients don’t read the emails” teamon-task kept
- “Clients skip the process - don’t do the homework” teamon-task kept
- “Setting up territories and hypotheses” teamon-task kept
- “Not always budget and time for a proper pre-creative setup” teamon-task kept
- “Key people are often not in the room at the start - but they bring knowledge  Esp. Devs during discovery” teamon-task kept
- “Finding easier / more efficient ways of doing things?” teamon-task kept
- “A pull from clients would be good” teamon-task kept
- “Trafficking / resource planning Feedback loops / iteration cycles are often not factored in” teamon-task kept
- “Job setup is a time sink. Could be automated  tasks roles budget estimates folders / files” teamon-task kept
- “Can better automations be set up in Productive?” teamon-task kept
- “Chat interface that results in a draft budget in Productive” teamon-task kept
- “Smarter calendars?” teamon-task kept
- “TECH SPIKES ON THIS?  AI BROWSERS?” teamon-task kept
- “Batch invoice drafts at month end?” teamon-task kept
- “Build the data set from past projects” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  The wrong people to start with” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  Asking for the wrong things?” teamon-task kept
- “Multiple points of truth is an issue” teamon-task kept
- “Inputs in different places” teamon-task kept
- “Templated approach / methodology” teamon-task kept
- “Checklists for interrogating the brief” teamon-task kept
- “What is the right balance of history / context” teamon-task kept
- “Chat to workflow / to-dos?” teamon-task kept
- “Smarter calendars?” teamon-task kept
- “Orchestration agent” teamon-task kept
- “Node view of project threads” teamon-task kept
- “Lots of info in G chats - things can be missed” teamon-task kept
- “But where’s the room for the idea?” teamon-task kept
- “Not up to speed on client history - how they work / what they like” teamon-task kept
- “Pull in performance data  Campaign results Internal profitability” teamon-task kept
- “Posh scamps - putting more effort into early creative than is needed” teamon-task kept
- “HIDDEN COSTS  Unbudgeted reworking” teamon-task kept
- “Trafficking Feedback loops are not baked in” teamon-task kept
- “Work doesn’t match what we know the client might buy” teamon-task kept
- “Single minded creative responses.  But client might want safer territory” teamon-task kept
- “Making decks - presentation ready  -slides? -something else?” teamon-task kept
- “The boss torpedoes things at the end” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  Client feedback  ”I don’t like green”” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  Regulatory copy” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  Client accountability” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  Subjectivity” teamon-task kept
- “CX FRICTION  We are flexible - what they want vs. what was briefed?” teamon-task kept
- “Docs? Living files?” teamon-task kept
- “QA - ticket tracking - particularly when client can’t access google sheets   [is there a ‘neutral’ solution - Trello etc?]” teamon-task kept
- “EFFORT VS PERCEIVED VALUE  Noit many clients actually scrutinise the results (unlike VG)” teamon-task kept

Findings → Verbatims

Clients often can't articulate what they want at the brief stage, and the resulting ambiguity surfaces later as friction and rework.
“Better briefs to begin with?  A brief agent??” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Clients skip the process - don’t do the homework” — Kickoff workshop boards
“CX FRICTION  The wrong people to start with” — Kickoff workshop boards
“CX FRICTION  Asking for the wrong things?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Checklists for interrogating the brief” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Templated approach / methodology” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Not always budget and time for a proper pre-creative setup” — Kickoff workshop boards
“CX FRICTION  We are flexible - what they want vs. what was briefed?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“A pull from clients would be good” — Kickoff workshop boards
Knowledge the work depends on (client history, how-we-do-things) is locked in people and scattered channels, hitting new joiners and discovery hardest.
“Organisational knowledge - particularly with new team members” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Not up to speed on client history - how they work / what they like” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Key people are often not in the room at the start - but they bring knowledge  Esp. Devs during discovery” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Lots of info in G chats - things can be missed” — Kickoff workshop boards
“What is the right balance of history / context” — Kickoff workshop boards
Resourcing is set against smooth-run assumptions, so feedback loops and rework aren't costed in — when feedback gets sticky, margin and morale absorb it.
“Trafficking / resource planning Feedback loops / iteration cycles are often not factored in” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Trafficking Feedback loops are not baked in” — Kickoff workshop boards
“HIDDEN COSTS  Unbudgeted reworking” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Not always budget and time for a proper pre-creative setup” — Kickoff workshop boards
“The boss torpedoes things at the end” — Kickoff workshop boards
“CX FRICTION  Client accountability” — Kickoff workshop boards
The problem isn't too little information but information scattered across channels, with no single source of truth — and even logged trails get ignored.
“Lots of info in G chats - things can be missed” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Multiple points of truth is an issue” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Inputs in different places” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Clients don’t read the emails” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Docs? Living files?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“QA - ticket tracking - particularly when client can’t access google sheets   [is there a ‘neutral’ solution - Trello etc?]” — Kickoff workshop boards
Creative judgement is inherently subjective; without a visible trail of rationale and evidence, decisions get reopened and overturned late.
“CX FRICTION  Subjectivity” — Kickoff workshop boards
“CX FRICTION  Client feedback  ”I don’t like green”” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Single minded creative responses.  But client might want safer territory” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Setting up territories and hypotheses” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Work doesn’t match what we know the client might buy” — Kickoff workshop boards
“The boss torpedoes things at the end” — Kickoff workshop boards
Presentation-ready artefacts (decks, posh scamps) consume effort that may exceed the value clients place on them — worth questioning the default.
“Making decks - presentation ready  -slides? -something else?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Posh scamps - putting more effort into early creative than is needed” — Kickoff workshop boards
“EFFORT VS PERCEIVED VALUE  Noit many clients actually scrutinise the results (unlike VG)” — Kickoff workshop boards
“But where’s the room for the idea?” — Kickoff workshop boards
Repetitive operational work — job setup, budgeting, invoicing, scheduling — is a recurring drain the team itself flags as automatable, much of it inside Productive.
“Job setup is a time sink. Could be automated  tasks roles budget estimates folders / files” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Can better automations be set up in Productive?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Chat interface that results in a draft budget in Productive” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Batch invoice drafts at month end?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Smarter calendars?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Finding easier / more efficient ways of doing things?” — Kickoff workshop boards
Beyond point automations, the team reaches for a connective layer — orchestration across project threads rather than more isolated tools.
“Orchestration agent” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Node view of project threads” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Chat to workflow / to-dos?” — Kickoff workshop boards
“TECH SPIKES ON THIS?  AI BROWSERS?” — Kickoff workshop boards
The firm holds data from prior work — estimates, performance, profitability — that could inform briefs, pricing and creative but isn't systematically reused.
“Build the data set from past projects” — Kickoff workshop boards
“Pull in performance data  Campaign results Internal profitability” — Kickoff workshop boards

Coverage gaps

JTBDs no opportunity addresses yet

none

Pillars with no opportunities laddering up

none

Active findings not yet justifying any opportunity

Clients often can't articulate what they want at the brief stage, and the resulting ambiguity surfaces later as friction and rework.
Knowledge the work depends on (client history, how-we-do-things) is locked in people and scattered channels, hitting new joiners and discovery hardest.
Resourcing is set against smooth-run assumptions, so feedback loops and rework aren't costed in — when feedback gets sticky, margin and morale absorb it.
The problem isn't too little information but information scattered across channels, with no single source of truth — and even logged trails get ignored.
Creative judgement is inherently subjective; without a visible trail of rationale and evidence, decisions get reopened and overturned late.
Presentation-ready artefacts (decks, posh scamps) consume effort that may exceed the value clients place on them — worth questioning the default.
Repetitive operational work — job setup, budgeting, invoicing, scheduling — is a recurring drain the team itself flags as automatable, much of it inside Productive.
Beyond point automations, the team reaches for a connective layer — orchestration across project threads rather than more isolated tools.
The firm holds data from prior work — estimates, performance, profitability — that could inform briefs, pricing and creative but isn't systematically reused.

TPAi studio

Sources → Verbatims

Findings → Verbatims

Opportunities (the hinge)

Loop map

Coverage gaps