The Polyglot Lab · Lincoln

Your software does the job.You do the bits it leaves.

Copying information between systems. Updating the CRM by hand. Chasing the same people for the same thing. Building Friday's report again.

Take one off my plate

Fixed price, agreed before you spend anything. Most of this work is £599 or £299, and we'll tell you which yours is.

See where your time goes

What are you still doing by hand?

Your systems already hold most of this. Here's where they hand it back to a person.

Recognise one? That's the one to start with.

We write up what we see, without naming anyone. Read the Field Notes

What that task costs you

A task that takes an hour a week, done by someone on £30 an hour, costs about £1,400 a year. Every year, until someone changes it.

We take it off you

There are two sizes of this, and you don't have to work out which is which. £299 stops you doing it. £599 stops you running it. Tell us the thing and we'll tell you which one it is before you spend anything.

TYPICAL FIT

£599 to build it, £99 a month to keep it running

For the thing you'd like to stop running.

We pick it up when it happens and carry it through. Chasing carries on until the thing arrives, then stops. You get the decisions, not the admin around them.

Anything we don't recognise goes straight to a person, with everything we know attached. We would rather hand you something early than guess.

£299 to build it, £59 a month to keep it running

For when it really is one step.

It happens, it gets done, and you'll know if it doesn't. No tracking, no chasing, no branches. Some things genuinely are this simple, and when yours is, we'll say so rather than sell you the bigger one.

Either way, we look at yours first and tell you what it costs. You decide then.

Show us the one you'd stop first

Fifteen minutes. If it isn't a fit, we'll tell you, and it costs you nothing.

Sometimes the annoying thing isn't the problem

One routine, removed, is a good week. But occasionally what somebody points at is a symptom, and taking it away just makes the symptom quieter.

These ones usually mean something broader.

  • You've hired to keep up with the admin

    The last two people weren't to grow the business. They were to keep it tidy.

  • Someone important is away

    The work still has to go out. The bit that made it work was in their head.

  • It depends who's on shift

    Two people do the same job two ways. Both fine, until a customer compares them.

  • Simple questions take a tour of the team

    Where's that up to? Three messages and a phone call later, you know.

  • One spreadsheet, two people who understand it

    It works. It has worked for years. And you'd rather not think about what happens to it.

  • You can't prove what happened

    The work was done properly. Six weeks later, showing that is a different matter.

If that's what we find, we'll tell you before you've spent anything on the wrong fix.

Everything works when everything goes right

Not a quotation dressed up as a report.

When it's bigger than one task, this is where the paid work starts: a focused look at one operational area. We talk with the people who run the process. We look at the spreadsheets, the job sheets, the inboxes, the handovers. Then we pressure-test the work against absence, volume, exceptions and incomplete information.

Operational Diagnostic

£750 · one operational area · about three working days

What you receive

  • A map of how the work actually runs today, workarounds included
  • The friction points, and the places that depend on one person
  • What happens under pressure: someone off, a busy week, a last-minute change, missing information
  • Prioritised recommendations, each marked as one of: leave as it is · change the process · use an existing tool better · automate or connect · build something new
  • A walkthrough call to go through it together

If you go ahead with Implementation within thirty days, the full £750 comes off the first module. It doesn't come off One Task Off Your Plate, which is priced to stand on its own.

Detailed in his approach, easy to collaborate with.

Yor brings precision and focus to every stage of the work. He's detailed in his approach, easy to collaborate with, and consistently engaged with what we're building. That combination has made the development process straightforward and genuinely enjoyable.

Sara Richardson, Managing Director, Kram

Working together since August 2025.

The Diagnostic is yours to act on internally, hand to another supplier, or leave for later. From there, you have four options:

1

Act on it yourselves

2

Hand it to another supplier

3

Have us implement it, with the £750 credited

4

Change nothing for now

See how a Diagnostic works

One we found this way

What happens when a customer says your team damaged something on site?

Jobs were getting done, but there wasn't always a record of the site before and after. The process looked fine on a good day. It was thin the moment somebody needed evidence. We changed how work was recorded and what the procedure had to cover, and tested it on real jobs. Software stayed off the table until the process was clear.

Show us where it breaks

Thirty minutes, no preparation. You'll know by the end whether there's anything worth doing.

Four ways this ends. Only one of them is software.

A Diagnostic does not always lead to software. Sometimes that's a new system. Often it's a better way to use the tools you already have: a clearer procedure, a small internal tool, or nothing at all.

Yor standing at a screen showing Modulinc, explaining how it works

Process and procedures

The job doesn't depend on who happens to be in.

Better use of what you already have

Make the existing system carry the work it's meant to.

Automations and integrations

Stop copying and pasting between tools.

Internal tools and bespoke software

Small screens built for one job, when existing tools can't hold it.

Who you'll work with

Yor working at a laptop, a Modulinc screen on the wall behind him

I'm Yor, usually the one in the grey beanie and Carhartt jacket. Based in Lincoln, and happy to meet on site.

I run The Polyglot Lab, a founder-led consulting practice for growing UK businesses. I investigate how work really moves, find where people are quietly holding it together, and recommend what is actually worth changing.

Before The Polyglot Lab, I spent twelve years as a project manager on Vodafone programmes at Reply, then worked as a Technical Account Manager at Khoros and CrowdStrike, where the job was handling escalations for enterprise customers when things went wrong.

What it costs, before you ask

  1. Take one off your plate

    £599 to build, £99 a month

    The routine you'd stop running.

  2. The smaller case

    £299 to build, £59 a month

    One step, removed.

  3. Operational Diagnostic

    £750

    One area mapped and pressure-tested, with prioritised recommendations. If you go ahead with Implementation within thirty days, the full £750 comes off the first module. It doesn't come off One Task Off Your Plate, which is priced to stand on its own.

  4. Implementation

    £2,000 to £6,000 per module

    One clearly defined change at a time, scoped and priced in writing before it starts.

Most of our work is bigger than this. Most of it started smaller.

Start with the free call

If you can sort it yourselves, we'll say so.

Questions we hear often

What if it's more complicated than it looks?

Then we tell you, before you pay anything. Sometimes that means the £599 rather than the £299. Occasionally it means neither, and what you actually need is a Diagnostic.

What does the monthly actually cover?

It keeps it running. We host it, we keep an eye on it, and if it stops doing what we built it to do, we fix that.

What if one of our systems changes?

If something changes underneath it, or you want it to do something new, that's new work. We'll tell you what it costs before we start anything.

What happens to the odd cases?

They come to you. We agree in advance which ones we'll handle, and anything outside that goes to a named person with what we know attached. We'd rather hand you something early than guess.

Do I need a Diagnostic first?

Usually not. Most people start by pointing at one thing. The Diagnostic is for when you can tell something's wrong but not what.

Do you just resell someone else's software?

No. Sometimes the answer is a tool you already own, used properly. Sometimes it's nothing at all. Connect, built by our sister company Modulinc, handles clocking and absence for cleaning teams. If it fits, we'll say so. If it doesn't, we won't.

Start with the free call

No preparation needed.

Pick the one you'd least like to do again

Tell us what it is. We'll tell you what it takes to stop, and what it costs, before you spend anything.

Take one off my plate

Fifteen minutes. If it isn't a fit, we'll say so, and it costs you nothing.