Leadership
- Before
- Status is assembled by hand from five tools every Friday.
- After
- A checked summary is waiting on Monday, with blockers flagged.
XS1 Automation
XS1 Automation researches and builds agent systems that act on real tools and data: loops that run on their own, with a named person approving anything sensitive. Open to contracted research and engineering, and research partnerships.
Weekly operations reportIllustrative
An example of the kind of loop XS1 Automation builds. Not a client deployment.
Research focus
The questions behind the work
XS1 Automation is a research and engineering division. Its work centers on agents that act on real tools and data, and on keeping a person in charge while they do.
XS1 does not publish its team, partners or research. Qualified partners receive more detail after an initial conversation.
Open questions
- 01
How narrowly can an agent's access be scoped and still let it finish real work?
- 02
How should a system check its own results before a person relies on them?
- 03
Where should the line sit between what runs on its own and what waits for a person?
- 04
How can agents carry useful memory across runs without carrying sensitive data with it?
How we work
From a first workflow map to a loop that keeps improving
Every engagement moves through the same four phases. The first two happen before anything runs; the last two repeat for as long as the loop runs.
- Phase 01
Map
Map the workflow
Find out how the work really runs today.
ProducesWorkflow map
- Phase 02
Design
Design the system
Specify the system before anything runs.
ProducesSystem design
- Phase 03
Deploy
Deploy the loop
Run it against real work, under supervision.
ProducesRunning loop
- Phase 04
Improve
Improve the loop
Tighten it around the real failure modes.
ProducesWhat we learned
Typical loops
Work that repeats every week
The kind of recurring work an agent system can take on, team by team. Generic examples, not client deployments.
IllustrativeKinds of work we automate
Operations
- Before
- Recurring checks live in someone's calendar and get skipped.
- After
- They run on schedule and report only what changed or stalled.
Support
- Before
- Every request is read and routed by hand.
- After
- Requests arrive tagged and routed, with replies drafted for a person to send.
Engineering
- Before
- Release notes are written from memory the night before.
- After
- They are drafted from merged changes and checked before release.
Research
- Before
- Tracking a topic means re-reading the same sources every week.
- After
- A cited brief arrives on a fixed cadence, with what changed on top.
Admin
- Before
- Documents are chased and checked manually, one field at a time.
- After
- Missing fields are caught early and the file waits for one approval.
Human authority
Built so a person stays in charge
Agents act on real systems, so the limits are built into each system, and a person on your side sets them.
Autonomous, within limits a person sets.
Routine, in-scope steps run on their own. Anything sensitive, destructive or visible outside your team waits for the workflow owner's approval.
- Workflow owner
- The named person on your team who owns a workflow, approves sensitive actions and can pause any loop at any time.
Scoped permissions
Each agent works inside a defined scope of tools, data and actions, with its own least-privilege credentials.
Visible while it runs
Task state, approvals and blockers can be seen as the work happens, not only after it finishes.
Traceable and reversible
Every action is logged with the agent that took it and why, and changes are made so they can be rolled back.
News
Latest from XS1 Automation
XS1 Automation sets out its operating model
Every XS1 Automation system moves through the same four phases: map, design, deploy and improve. Each answers to a named workflow owner on the partner's side, and anything sensitive holds at an approval gate until the workflow owner signs off.
- Phases
- Map
- Design
- Deploy
- Improve
- Workflow owner
- A named person who approves sensitive actions and can pause any loop
- Approval gate
- The run holds until the workflow owner signs off, and the sign-off is recorded
Next step
Start with one workflow.
Tell us what your team does every week by hand. We will come back with whether it can run as a loop, and what a first version would look like.