Strategy & Findings
Discovery CompleteExecutive Summary
Over 17 stakeholders interviewed across 7 days and 6 departments, plus ongoing check-ins with Lana Dooling (GM), three systemic themes emerged that explain the majority of operational friction at Bocci. These are not isolated complaints — they are structural patterns confirmed by people across every function, from glassblowing to finance. Lana's Feb 19 check-in validated all three themes with a concrete example: a rigid armature discontinuation that cascaded across 6+ teams with no coordinated communication.
The core finding: Bocci's information architecture has not kept pace with its growth. Product knowledge lives in people's heads, tools are disconnected, and every department has built workarounds for the same underlying problem — they cannot easily find, share, or trust the information they need to do their work. Lana Dooling, as General Manager, sees all three themes converge on her desk daily — she is the executive thread connecting every departmental pain point identified in this assessment.
Interview Coverage
| Name | Role | Date | Key Finding |
|---|---|---|---|
| Randy Bishop | Co-founder, Head of Business Ops | Feb 10 | Strategic vision clear but operational data gaps limit execution |
| Lana Dooling | General Manager | Feb 10, 19 | Everything flows through Lana. Product change cascades hit her desk (rigid armature example: 1.5yr discontinuation with no cross-team notice). Wants Slack as centralized hub + product-stage database. Monday.com failed for task assignment. Ally (new PM, May) to champion change. Confirmed 60-70% AP automation, 50-60% support bandwidth recovery. Recommends Claude/Anthropic company-wide. |
| Tyler Archibald | Director of Operations | Feb 10 | Production scheduling driven by tribal knowledge, not systems |
| Andrew Nguyen | Production Lead | Feb 10 | Floor team works around system gaps with manual tracking |
| Brian Magennis | Product Development Manager | Feb 11 | ProDev lifecycle partially documented; handoffs are the failure point |
| Conor Graham | Finance / NetSuite Admin | Feb 12 | NetSuite is backbone but underutilized; 14 years of institutional knowledge |
| Julien McLaren | Support IC | Feb 12 | 40 tickets/day across brands; Hiver works but information gaps cause delays |
| Molly Donnici | Support Operations | Feb 12 | 50-100 emails/day; spends significant time hunting for product info |
| Emily Vender | Direct Sales / Web Dev | Feb 13 | Sales team lacks structured product data for quoting |
| Sachie Sakai | Direct Sales | Feb 13 | Customer-facing but dependent on tribal knowledge for specs |
| Chu-Chu | Sales, US Dealers | Feb 14 | Dealer relationships strong but ordering process is manual |
| Mandy Chang | Designer / Documentation | Feb 14 | Documentation exists but scattered; no single source of truth |
| Jay Macdonell | Operations | Feb 14 | Cross-functional view confirms disconnected tool landscape |
| Omer Arbel | Partner / Designer | Feb 17 | Design legacy deeply embedded; technology should serve craft |
| Jennine Banks | Accounts Payable | Feb 18 | 60-70% of AP workflows automatable; $1M FedEx customs backlog |
| Julien Mainguy | Compliance Engineer | Feb 18 | 15-month TTM vs 9-month target; T3 compliance too late |
| Daria Mikhailiuk | Art Director | Feb 18 | 93 campaigns, 3 reshoots; creative absorbs product info gaps |
| Jasmine Whelan | ProDev Hardware Designer | Feb 18 | ChatGPT 30-50x/day; 3DX rejected; strongest AI champion |
Three Systemic Themes
These three themes were identified across all 17 interviews. They are structural, not departmental — every team experiences them differently but the root cause is shared.
Theme 1: Product Knowledge Is Tribal, Not Systemic
Confirmed by 11 of 17 stakeholders: Lana, Randy, Tyler, Brian, Molly, Emily, Sachie, Mandy, Julien McLaren, Daria, Jasmine
New evidence from Feb 18 interviews strengthens this theme significantly. Daria's creative team ran 93 campaigns with only 3 reshoots — remarkable efficiency — but she noted the creative department essentially absorbs the cost of product information gaps by spending extra time hunting for specs and materials information. Jasmine, as a hardware designer, uses ChatGPT 30-50 times daily to compensate for missing structured product data, building her own knowledge bridges where systems should exist.
Impact across departments
- Sales: Cannot quote confidently without calling ProDev; quoting delays lose deals
- Support: 40+ tickets/day where answers require product knowledge not in any system
- Marketing: Creative team researches product details independently for every campaign
- ProDev: Team members become human databases, pulled from design work to answer questions
- Finance: AP processes stall when product/vendor information is incomplete (Jennine: $1M FedEx backlog)
- GM Office: Lana absorbs the downstream cost of every information gap — escalations, cross-dept coordination, and decision delays all route through her
Theme 2: Tools Exist but Do Not Talk to Each Other
Confirmed by 8 of 17 stakeholders: Lana, Conor, Julien McLaren, Emily, Tyler, Molly, Julien Mainguy, Jennine
Jennine's interview revealed that 60-70% of her AP workflows are automatable but cannot be automated because the data does not flow between systems. Manual cash application consumes roughly 50% of her day. Julien Mainguy, the compliance engineer, noted that T3 compliance testing happens too late in the product development cycle because there is no system-level trigger — it is caught by people noticing, not by process. This has cost €20K+ in rework per product.
Impact across departments
- Finance: NetSuite data is reliable but isolated; AP workflows are manual bridges between systems
- Compliance: No automated triggers for required testing milestones; costly rework
- Support: Hiver handles tickets but lacks product context; agents search multiple systems per ticket
- Production: Floor tracking happens in parallel to NetSuite, creating data drift
- Sales: No CRM means customer history lives in email and memory
- GM Office: Lana is the human integration layer — when systems do not talk, she manually bridges the gaps between departments, consuming bandwidth that should go to strategic work
Theme 3: Process Lives in People, Not Systems
Confirmed by 9 of 17 stakeholders: Tyler, Andrew, Brian, Lana, Jay, Omer, Bronwyn, Jasmine, Julien Mainguy
Jasmine's experience with 3DX (3D modeling software) illustrates this perfectly — the tool was purchased but rejected by the team because adoption was people-dependent, not process-embedded. Julien Mainguy has independently built a product roadmap on Webflow and uses Claude CoWork daily, showing that motivated individuals will build their own systems when organizational ones do not exist.
Impact across departments
- ProDev: Product lifecycle depends on Brian's coordination; no system tracks stage progression
- Production: Tyler and Andrew carry scheduling logic; absence creates production gaps
- Compliance: 15-month TTM vs 9-month target; testing triggered by awareness, not milestones
- Leadership: Strategic decisions lack data because processes do not generate structured data as a byproduct
- AI adoption: Individual champions (Jasmine, Julien M) adopt AI independently but organization lacks framework
- GM Office: Lana is the process backstop — when undocumented processes break or key people are unavailable, she steps in to keep things moving, making her the single biggest beneficiary of systematized workflows
How Bocci Operates Today
Six operational areas mapped from stakeholder interviews. Each represents a core business function with its own tools, pain points, and improvement opportunities.
Product Development — Concept to certified product
Owner: Brian Magennis (ProDev Manager)
Tools: NetSuite (partial), Google Drive, physical prototyping
Key challenge: Lifecycle stages are understood by the team but not tracked in any system. Handoffs between concept, engineering, prototyping, certification, and production happen through meetings and messages. Jasmine notes that 3DX was purchased but rejected — tool adoption requires process integration, not just licensing.
Improvement opportunity: Structured product lifecycle with stage gates, automated handoffs, and milestone tracking. Compliance (T3 testing) should trigger automatically at the right stage rather than being caught late.
Sales & Quoting — Specs to signed orders
Owners: Emily Vender, Sachie Sakai, Chu-Chu
Tools: Email, phone, spreadsheets — no CRM
Key challenge: No CRM exists. Customer history, quoting, and pipeline management happen through email and personal knowledge. Sales team depends on ProDev for product specs to build quotes. Dealer relationships (Chu-Chu) are strong but the ordering process is entirely manual.
Improvement opportunity: Lightweight CRM with product catalog integration. Even a structured spreadsheet with product specs would reduce ProDev interruptions. Long-term: automated quoting from product database.
Support Operations — Customer issues to resolution
Owners: Molly Donnici, Julien McLaren
Tools: Hiver (Gmail-based ticketing)
Key challenge: 40-90 tickets/day across Bocci and 22 System. Hiver handles queue management well, but agents spend significant time searching for product information across systems to answer customer questions. No knowledge base exists.
Improvement opportunity: Product knowledge base accessible from support workflow. FAQ automation for common questions. Integration between support tickets and product/order data.
Finance & Administration — Books, payments, reporting
Owners: Conor Graham (14 years), Jennine Banks (AP)
Tools: NetSuite (ERP backbone)
Key challenge: NetSuite is reliable for core financials but operates as an island. Jennine identified that 60-70% of AP workflows are automatable — manual cash application takes ~50% of her day. A $1M FedEx customs backlog accumulated from manual processes. Conor carries 14 years of institutional NetSuite knowledge.
Improvement opportunity: AP automation (vendor matching, cash application). Cross-system data flows so NetSuite data enriches other tools. Knowledge transfer from Conor to documented processes.
Production & Manufacturing — Raw materials to shipped product
Owners: Tyler Archibald, Andrew Nguyen, Jacob (floor)
Tools: NetSuite (partial), manual tracking, physical boards
Key challenge: Production scheduling relies on Tyler and Andrew's knowledge of capacity, materials, and priorities. Floor team uses workarounds for system gaps. Data drift between NetSuite records and actual production state.
Improvement opportunity: Production visibility dashboard. Real-time or daily sync between floor tracking and NetSuite. Capacity planning tools that build on existing data.
Marketing & Creative — Brand, campaigns, content
Owner: Daria Mikhailiuk (Art Director)
Tools: Creative suite, campaign management tools
Key challenge: 93 campaigns with only 3 reshoots — the creative team is highly efficient. But Daria wants a product status dashboard because her team spends time hunting for product information (availability, specs, materials) that should be readily accessible. The creative department absorbs the cost of upstream information gaps.
Improvement opportunity: Product status dashboard for creative team. Automated notifications when product information changes. Structured product data that marketing can query directly.
Ranked Improvements
Initiatives scored by impact (1-5), urgency (1-5), and feasibility (1-5). Total = sum of all three. Higher scores indicate higher priority. Updated with evidence from all 17 interviews.
| # | Initiative | Impact | Urgency | Feasibility | Total | Key Evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Product Knowledge Base | 5 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 10 stakeholders cite tribal knowledge as primary blocker |
| 2 | CRM Implementation | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 | No CRM exists; sales, support, marketing all separate |
| 3 | AP Workflow Automation | 4 | 5 | 4 | 13 | Jennine: 60-70% automatable, $1M FedEx backlog |
| 4 | ProDev Lifecycle System | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 | Lifecycle not tracked, handoffs break, 15-mo TTM |
| 5 | Cross-System Integration | 5 | 4 | 3 | 12 | 7 stakeholders confirm tools are disconnected |
| 6 | Support Knowledge Base | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | Molly: 50-100 emails/day; most require product lookup |
| 7 | Compliance Automation | 4 | 4 | 3 | 11 | T3 testing too late costs €20K+ per product |
| 8 | Production Dashboard | 4 | 3 | 4 | 11 | Tyler, Andrew, Daria need real-time production view |
| 9 | NetSuite Optimization | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 14 years of knowledge to document; AP features underused |
| 10 | AI Adoption Framework | 4 | 3 | 3 | 10 | Jasmine: 30-50x/day; Julien M: Claude daily; no org framework |
| 11 | Document Management | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | Documentation scattered; no single source of truth |
| 12 | Process Documentation | 3 | 3 | 3 | 9 | Critical processes live in people's heads |
| 13 | Dealer Portal | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | Dealer ordering is entirely manual |
| 14 | Data Analytics | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | Leadership wants data-driven decisions; no infrastructure |
| 15 | Capacity Planning | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 | Scheduling by intuition; will not scale |
| 16 | Change Management | 2 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 3DX rejection shows tools without change mgmt fail |
| 17 | Customer Self-Service | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | Depends on knowledge base and CRM first |
Phased Roadmap
Phase 1: Foundation (Months 1-3)
Build the information infrastructure that everything else depends on.
- Product Knowledge Base — structured product data accessible to all departments
- CRM evaluation and selection — lightweight, integrated with existing tools
- AP workflow quick wins — automate vendor matching and cash application in NetSuite
- Process documentation — capture critical workflows from key individuals
Phase 2: Integration (Months 3-6)
Connect systems and automate the manual bridges between them.
- Cross-system integration layer — connect NetSuite, CRM, support, and production tools
- ProDev lifecycle system — stage gates, automated handoffs, compliance triggers
- Support knowledge base — powered by product knowledge base, accessible from Hiver
- Production visibility dashboard — real-time status for operations, sales, and creative
Phase 3: Intelligence (Months 6-12)
Layer AI and analytics on the unified data infrastructure.
- AI adoption framework — organizational approach building on Jasmine and Julien M's individual usage
- Data analytics and reporting — cross-departmental dashboards for leadership
- Advanced automation — compliance automation, predictive capacity planning
- Self-service portals — dealer ordering, customer support, internal knowledge
Risk Register
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change resistance (3DX precedent) | High | High | Start with tools people already want; build on individual AI adoption |
| Key person dependency (Conor, Brian) | High | High | Document institutional knowledge early; cross-train |
| Scope creep across 17 initiative areas | Medium | High | Phased approach with clear gates; validate each phase |
| Integration complexity (legacy systems) | Medium | High | Start with highest-value connections; build incrementally |
| Knowledge base adoption | Medium | Medium | Design for existing workflows; embed in Hiver, Slack |
| Budget constraints | Medium | Medium | Prioritize clear ROI (AP automation pays for itself) |
| AI governance and data privacy | Low | High | Establish framework before scaling; build on existing usage |
| Vendor lock-in | Low | Medium | Prefer tools with APIs and export capabilities |
Change Readiness Map
Based on direct observation during interviews — how each stakeholder responded to discussion of changes, their current tool adoption, and stated preferences.
Champions — Will drive adoption
- Jasmine Whelan — Uses ChatGPT 30-50x/day, actively seeks better tools, built workarounds for 3DX rejection
- Julien Mainguy — Built product roadmap on Webflow independently, uses Claude CoWork daily, systematic thinker
- Conor Graham — 14 years of institutional knowledge, understands NetSuite deeply, ready to optimize
- Emily Vender — Web developer background, comfortable with technology, sees gaps clearly
- Lana Dooling — Primary executive sponsor; daily contact with C22, sees all three themes converge on her desk, actively driving this initiative forward
Supportive — Will adopt with guidance
- Randy Bishop — Strategic thinker; supportive of change that aligns with business goals
- Brian Magennis — Understands ProDev needs systems; key to product lifecycle adoption
- Daria Mikhailiuk — Wants product dashboard; will adopt tools that reduce information hunting
- Jennine Banks — Clear on what is automatable; will embrace AP workflow improvements
- Molly Donnici — Feels support pain daily; will welcome knowledge base and automation
Cautious — Need evidence before committing
- Tyler Archibald — Production focus; will support changes that do not disrupt floor operations
- Andrew Nguyen — Practical; needs to see tools work before endorsing
- Julien McLaren — Support IC; practical adopter, needs tools that integrate with Hiver
- Mandy Chang — Documentation role; key to knowledge base but needs clear process
Unknown — Insufficient data
- Chu-Chu — Dealer-focused; change readiness depends on tool impact on dealer relationships
- Sachie Sakai — Direct sales; limited interview data on change preferences
- Omer Arbel — Design legacy priority; technology must serve craft vision