Design

The piece the market doesn’t have

Design is the most selective layer of the Engine. It’s not always activated. It’s only activated when there is a gap in your operational flow that no commercial software can close satisfactorily.

Most operational needs are covered by market tools. For CRM there’s Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho. For ERP there’s SAP, Odoo, Holded. For project management there’s Asana, Monday, Notion. The market has solutions for almost everything. But the “almost” matters.

There are situations where the piece you need doesn’t exist. A client portal with very specific business logic. An internal tool that connects processes in a way no SaaS contemplates. An interface that brings together data from five different systems into an operational view that can’t be built with generic dashboards.

What Design does

Design builds the missing piece. But not as an isolated software project. As a native extension of the Engine, integrated with the Integration, Data, Orchestration, and Control layers from day one.

Gap analysis: Before writing a single line of code, we validate that the gap is real. That there isn’t a market tool that covers it. That there isn’t an alternative configuration of the existing stack that solves it. That the cost of building outweighs the cost of not building. Many custom software projects shouldn’t exist. The ones that should, we build.

UX/UI research: If we’re going to build, we build well. We understand who will use the tool, in what context, how frequently, and what they need to accomplish. User experience design is not a luxury. It’s what determines whether the tool gets adopted or abandoned.

Full-stack development: We build with modern, scalable, and maintainable technologies. Responsive frontend that works on desktop and mobile. Backend with well-documented APIs that integrate with the rest of the Engine. Database designed to scale. Cloud infrastructure with automated CI/CD.

Native integration: What differentiates software built in the Design layer from generic custom software is the integration. The new piece is born connected to the Integration layer’s connectors. It consumes Data layer’s governed data. Its workflows are orchestrated by the Orchestration layer. Its metrics are monitored by the Control layer. It’s not an island. It’s a piece of the system.

Testing and quality: Every piece of software has automated tests, technical documentation, and a controlled release process. We don’t deliver code and disappear. Design layer software is maintained with the same rigor as the rest of the Engine.

Why it matters

Sometimes the competitive advantage lies in the processes that only your company executes that way. The ones unique to your business model, your vertical, your market. Those processes don’t fit in generic software because they’re not generic.

Design lets you capture that competitive advantage in software. Not to replace your stack, but to complete it. The piece that closes the flow, eliminates the spreadsheet, and gives the end user the experience they deserve.

Typical implementation

Design has the longest cycle in the Engine because building software well takes time. A typical piece is completed in 4-8 weeks from gap validation to production deployment. The process follows agile methodologies with incremental delivery: validated prototype in the first week, MVP in the third, and full version with iterations based on real feedback.

The Kaizen team maintains the software after deployment: bug fixes, improvements based on actual usage, security updates, and functional evolutions as business needs change.

When NOT to activate Design

Design is not activated when there’s a market tool that covers 80% of the need. It’s not activated when the gap can be closed with an integration or a workflow. It’s not activated when the cost of building doesn’t justify the benefit. Every Design activation goes through a rigorous feasibility analysis because building custom software is expensive and maintaining it is a long-term commitment.