Project Summary: Contract Generation System
Problem
The venue owner currently creates contracts using a Google Doc template. For each new booking, she manually copies the template, fills in client details (name, date, package, pricing, terms), and exports to PDF. This process is error-prone, time-consuming (15-20 minutes per contract), and not scalable.
Outcome
- ✓Client's full name and contact information
- ✓Event date and venue location
- ✓Complete package breakdown with line items and prices
- ✓Calculated total matching CRM package total exactly
- ✓Payment terms and cancellation policy
- ✓Signature lines for both parties
- ✓All text in selected language (English or Spanish)
Discovery
A small venue rental business was running entirely on phone calls, memory, and Google Docs. The owner would take calls, try to remember booking details, manually create contracts from a template, and hope nothing fell through the cracks. There was no CRM, no lead tracking, and no way to scale without hiring more people to manage the chaos.
Before State
- •Lead capture: Phone calls only. No way to track where leads came from or follow up systematically.
- •Booking management: Owner had to remember details from calls, manually check calendar availability, then call back.
- •Contracts: Google Doc template. Copy, paste, manually fill in client details. High error rate, inconsistent formatting.
- •Client records: Scattered across email, notes, and memory. No single source of truth.
Prioritization
Solo developer, part-time engagement. Had to prioritize ruthlessly.
The framework: what delivers immediate value vs. what's nice to have? P0 items unblock the business today. P1 items enable scale. P2 items can wait.
What I Built
- ✓Website + contact forms (P0) — Entry point for prospects
- ✓Google Calendar integration (P0) — Eliminates scheduling back-and-forth
- ✓CRM + lead tracking (P1) — Single source of truth
- ✓Package configuration (P1) — Custom pricing per client
- ✓Contract generation (P1) — One-click, error-free contracts
- ✓QuickBooks sync (P2) — Gradual adoption path
What I Didn't Build
- ✗AI features — Not needed. The user needed digitization, not automation.
- ✗Full invoicing replacement — QuickBooks already works. Don't break what's not broken.
- ✗Advanced analytics — Nice to have, zero urgency for a small business.
- ✗Mobile app — Responsive web is sufficient. Native app would triple scope.
Execution
Phase 1: Immediate Value
LiveWebsite + booking integration. Bilingual, mobile-responsive, SEO-optimized. Prospects self-schedule tours via Google Calendar.
Before: Owner takes a call, scrambles to check calendar, calls back to confirm. After: Prospect books directly online, owner gets notified, meeting is on the calendar. Zero back-and-forth.
Phase 2: Operational Backend
Built — Adoption in progressCRM with full client lifecycle tracking. Custom package builder. One-click PDF contract generation (English/Spanish). QuickBooks sync for gradual transition.
Iteration
Building the right product is half the job. The owner's priority is running the business — taking calls, managing events, handling day-to-day operations. Learning a new system requires bandwidth she doesn't always have. A feature that doesn't get used delivers zero value.
How I Responded
- •Gradual rollout: QuickBooks sync ensures existing workflows aren't disrupted during transition.
- •Focus on immediate wins: Prioritized features she'll actually use daily over "complete" features she won't touch.
- •Simpler UX iteration: If she's not using something, the problem might be the interface, not the feature.
Key Decisions
- •Gradual adoption > Big-bang migration — You can't move a small business to a new system overnight. Meet them where they are.
- •Workflow-first > Feature-rich — A simple workflow that gets used beats a powerful feature that doesn't.
- •Bilingual as core requirement — 50%+ of clients are Spanish-speaking. This wasn't an add-on
- •Custom solution over SaaS — Off-the-shelf tools didn't fit the specific workflow. Building custom gave full control and flexibility.
What I Learned
On Prioritization
When resources are limited, the question isn't "what can we build?" but "what will actually get used?" The features that shipped first (website, booking integration) delivered immediate, visible value. The backend features required behavior change, which is harder.
On User Adoption
Building a better mousetrap doesn't guarantee people will use it. Small business owners are optimizing for "get through today," not "optimize for next year." Any new system has to fit into their existing mental model and daily rhythm.
On Scope
The temptation is to build everything at once. The reality is that shipping something useful quickly, then iterating, beats a "complete" system that takes forever to launch.
On Product Thinking
The most important skill wasn't technical. It was understanding the user's actual workflow, identifying where the pain was greatest, and ruthlessly prioritizing against limited resources. That's product management — whether the title says it or not.
What Does It Take to Digitize Workflows?
This is the project I reference when evaluating operational technology or any business claiming to "digitize workflows." I understand what it takes to move a real business from manual processes to integrated systems.