BL-008Consulting Experience
BuiltProject Intake Lab & AI Working Profile
A guided intake that turns "I think AI could help" into a structured project brief — with a readiness snapshot, a service match, and a draft master prompt, all derived by plain rules.
01The problem
What needed to change
Starting a consulting conversation is the hardest step. Most visitors don't arrive with a clear brief — they arrive with a vague sense that AI could help, no vocabulary for what they need, and a blank contact form staring back at them.
02Context & constraints
What shaped the build
Live on this site at /contact. Built as the primary conversion path for the consulting offer: a general inquiry form handles quick questions, and the Intake Lab handles the "I have a project" path.
No backend or database — answers persist in the visitor's browser only
No AI API calls — every output is derived with plain, inspectable rules
No account required — drafts save locally and can be cleared anytime
Honest by design — nothing pretends to send; the visitor exports the brief
03Goals
What success meant
- Let a visitor arrive with nothing and leave with a structured project brief
- Match each visitor to the most relevant service without a sales call
- Give something genuinely useful away — a working profile and master prompt draft
- Keep every derivation transparent and deterministic
04Approach
How it was built
Design the question set
Six short steps — about you, current AI use, work & workflows, goals, preferences, privacy & boundaries — with only name and email required, so partial answers still produce useful output.
Build the rules engine
A single library derives everything from the answers: an additive readiness score mapped to five stages, a service recommendation with explicit precedence rules, and a working profile assembled field by field.
Make drafts durable
Answers save to the browser as you type through the site's validated localStorage pattern, so closing the tab never loses work.
Export, honestly
The finished brief renders as Markdown and JSON with copy and download actions — and the success screen says plainly that direct submission isn't wired up yet.
05What was built
Capabilities on record
Six-step guided wizard with a review screen and per-step validation
AI readiness snapshot — five stages from a transparent additive score
Rule-based service matching with primary and secondary recommendations
AI Working Profile assembled from the answers
Draft master prompt generated from structured answers
Markdown and JSON brief exports with copy and download
Draft persistence with resume and clear-draft controls
06System view
How it flows
Answer
Six short steps, saved locally as you go
Review
Edit any section before committing
Derive
Readiness, match, profile, and prompt — by rules
Export
A Markdown or JSON brief, ready to send
07Outcome
Where it landed
A working intake system where a visitor with no plan can produce a complete, structured project brief in one sitting — and where every recommendation can be explained, because it's rules, not a model.
On the record
6 guided steps plus a review screen
5-stage readiness model
2 export formats (Markdown and JSON)
0 AI calls — fully deterministic
Only verifiable facts appear here — no estimated business metrics, ever.
08Field notes
Lessons & what's next
What was learned
- Making every field optional except name and email removed the biggest drop-off risk — partial answers still produce a useful profile.
- Keeping the option lists and the rules in one file means the wizard and the derivations can't drift apart.
- Saying plainly that nothing sends yet builds more trust than a fake success screen would.
Future work
- Wire the brief to a real submission target
- Refine stage thresholds as real intakes come in
09Related resources
Keep going from here
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View Case StudyHave a problem shaped like this one?
The Project Intake Lab turns your situation into a structured brief — readiness snapshot, service match, and a draft master prompt included. No commitment, nothing sent until you send it.