A forward deployed engineering pilot. Each week, Aaron's team embeds with a different function for a dedicated Tinker Time day, rapidly identifying and prototyping high-impact AI use cases. Four weeks. Five functions. Prove the model, then scale it.
Tinker Time is Alto's innovation format: step away from routine, build something new, ship by end of day. This pilot extends that model into a weekly rotation across five functional teams.
Aaron's team embeds directly with each function, identifies their highest-friction workflows, and rapidly prototypes AI-powered solutions. Starting with Ops, Legal/Compliance, and Finance to prove the model, then expanding company-wide.
One dedicated day per function per week. Participants bring their biggest pain points. Together we assess feasibility and impact, narrow in on the best opportunity, and build.
5 functions across 4 weeks proves the repeatable pattern. Success means we rerun with new participants and expand company-wide.
"No idea is too small, odd, or ambitious to try. A failed prototype is still a success if we learned something."
Each week, a different group gets a dedicated Tinker Time day with Aaron's team. 2 participants per function, 5 big problems each.
| Week | Function(s) | Suggested focus areas |
|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Customer Support | Ticket triage, knowledge base, response drafting, escalation routing, SLA tracking, + your ideas |
| Week 2 | RevOps + Customer Success | Pipeline hygiene, lead routing, commission calcs, client onboarding, health scoring, renewal workflows, + your ideas |
| Week 3 | Legal & Compliance + Sales | Contract review, regulatory tracking, compliance reporting, deal acceleration, proposal generation, + your ideas |
| Week 4 | FinOps + Marketing | Team onsite week. Time allowing, sessions with FinOps and Marketing, + your ideas |
Each leader nominates participants and submits a list of pain points and repetitive tasks.
First Tinker Time with the first group. Brainstorm, select, build, and demo a working prototype by end of day.
Remaining groups get their dedicated day. Each session follows the same format, tuned to that function's needs.
IT team onsite week. Time allowing, FinOps and Marketing join for additional sessions.
Review outcomes across all sessions. Promote winning prototypes to production. Decide whether to rerun or expand.
Each exec nominates up to 2 participants from their team and submits:
• List of repetitive, time-consuming tasks
• Estimated weekly hours spent on each
• Any known dependencies or blockers
• A working prototype or proof of concept
• Clear assessment: time saved, accuracy, scalability
• Documentation of what worked, what didn't
• A potential launch window for production use
Each function gets a dedicated Slack channel for ongoing automation discovery:
Past Tinker Time experiments that became real tools:
Tinker Time is where curiosity meets creativity. Now it deploys across every function.