2009 – 2026 · BY HAND

I spent sixteen years running agency client services.

RE: RE: FW: updated budget 23:48

Sorry, one more change from the client. Can you update the plan, the forecast and the deck before tomorrow?

Timeline_v12_FINAL_final.xlsx

Launch event 12 Oct 14 Oct?

Budget €320,000 €272,000?

Who’s on it Marc on leave

Client services director 23:52

@Account manager which version did finance see? And is the forecast still right?

👀 2 1 reply

Four agencies, from Paris to Tokyo.

Tokyo, 2026

Hopscotch Tokyo · 2018–26
Geometry Global Amsterdam, Hamburg, Tokyo · 2013–18
Saatchi & Saatchi Paris · 2011–12
La Chose Paris · 2009–11

Hopscotch Tokyo · 2018–26
Geometry Global Amsterdam, Hamburg, Tokyo · 2013–18
Saatchi & Saatchi Paris · 2011–12
La Chose Paris · 2009–11

SIXTEEN YEARS · THE ROAD HERE

Paris Amsterdam Hamburg Tokyo

Tokyo, 2026

La Chose ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE · PARIS · 2009 – 2011

Saatchi & Saatchi ACCOUNT MANAGER · PARIS · 2011 – 2012

Geometry Global UP TO ACCOUNT DIRECTOR · 2013 – 2018

Hopscotch CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR · JAPAN, KOREA

Every agency I worked in lost the same hours to the same spreadsheets: numbers retyped, plans rebuilt, nobody sure which version was true.

Building small programs with coding agents in my own time, I kept finding they could do more than I had hours to give them. So in April 2026 I left, and gave it all of mine.

2026 · WITH THE TOOL

Then I built the software it should have run on.

Spirits client · summer program all five up to date

Pipeline €163k

Timeline 14 Oct

Capacity Ana

Forecast 25%

Objectives 66%

Budget cut to €272,000: all five followed, and the margin fell below target. Try it

Client change Budget cut to €272,000 entered once LIVE

Pipeline €163,200 weighted updated

Timeline 5 activities unchanged

Capacity 94% peak unchanged

Forecast 25% GM updated

Objectives 66% of the year updated

Five dashboards checked, three updated, nothing retyped.

MAY – SEPTEMBER 2026 · WHAT I BUILT

building with AI

I built thirty-six modules alone.

Between May and September I directed AI agents to build an operations platform for communication agencies, without being a developer. What I brought was knowing exactly which parts of the job were broken.

ON THIS PAGE · TRY THEM

One entry – the client changes their mind, five dashboards follow. The planner – the deadline shifts, the schedule and the staffing adapt. The report – nobody sees where the time goes, measuring shows what to fix first.

See all 36 modules

Adrien Charles Based in Tokyo

01 · BY HAND

The information exists. It just doesn’t travel.

A number changes. Someone updates the budget, then the planning file, then Monday’s deck, then messages whoever is staffing it. Four jobs, and none of them is the work.

Client · revision 1Tue 17:12

“Procurement came back. The budget drops to €272,000.”

Pipeline_Q3.xlsxupdate me

Planning_v12.xlsxunaffected?

Staffing_Oct.xlsxunaffected?

Forecast_FY26.xlsxupdate me

Objectives_2026.pptxupdate me

–updates by hand

01 · ONE ENTRY · WITH THE TOOL

When the client changes their mind, all five dashboards update.

Program details

no version

Step 1 of 4

Client

Revenue

Runs from / to

Activities

Confidence 60%

Link the dashboards

The five dashboards appear here once you save the program.

Pipeline

–

—

weighted revenue this year

Timeline

—

activities placed

Capacity

—

peak load across the team

Forecast

—

forecast gross margin

Objectives

—

of the annual target, credited to the year it was won

–once linkedinstant, every time

02 · BY HAND

Planning the work is a day’s work.

Working out the order, dodging the public holidays, remembering who is on leave, deciding who does what and whether anyone has the room. Rebuilt from scratch every time a date moves.

Retroplanning_pitch_v7.xlsx

Strategy

Creative

Deck

Deadline

client: can we move it to the 9th?

Project manager 18:47

@Pitch team is Marc back from leave by then? Does anyone know?

🤷 3 Seen by 6

–by hand30 min for the first, up to 15 for each change

02 · THE PLANNER · WITH THE TOOL

When the deadline moves, the schedule and the staffing move with it.

Step 1 of 3

Public holidays

Working days –

Deadline –

Deadline

–for each plan the tool builds

03 · BY HAND

Nobody knows where the week actually goes.

Everyone has a view on which part of the job is slow. Nobody has a number. So the same argument comes round every quarter and nothing gets fixed.

Timesheet_w39.xlsx

clientadminother

Mon5h2h1h

Tue4hmisc.?

Wed6h3h

Thu???

Frifilled in later

Where did Thursday go?

?hours that nobody can account forso nothing gets fixed

03 · THE REPORT · WITH THE TOOL

Now the hours are measured, so you know what to fix first.

Recording

0:00on this page

0clicks

0sections read

0times you went back to look

–given back on your own visitthe same measurement, pointed at agency work

04 · BY HAND

I built this page in four days.

The thirty-six modules on this map took four months.

Now picture a quarter inside your agency.

By hand, the same work was spread across spreadsheets, decks and inboxes that never spoke to each other.

04 · WHAT I BUILT · WITH THE TOOL

Eight of them are on this page. There are thirty-six.

They work from the same few records, a program, a client, a person, an activity, each entered once, which is what lets one module feed the next instead of someone retyping it. Pick an area to open it up.

A module A shared record Information the module draws from it On this page Tried

Tap a dot, or swipe the card

moduleshared recordon this pagetried

05 · WHAT YOU HEAR

Tick what is true where you work.

Each one you tick adds to a plan on the right: what I would do in your first ninety days, and in what order. Nothing leaves your browser unless you send it.

Tap the ones you have heard

05 · YOUR AGENCY · WHAT WE WOULD DO

Your first 90 days with me.

Tick one and your first ninety days appear here.

06 · WHERE WE LEFT IT

You have spent less than a minute here.

Sixteen years of knowing where agencies lose their hours, and four months of building the tools that give them back.

Based in Tokyo · English, French, Spanish · open to remote

LinkedIn CV, one page PDF

Or check the record first.

06 · CONTACT · WHAT COMES NEXT

Let’s make the next thirty count.

Adrien Charles Pick whichever conversation suits you.

A role. Hire me to build and teach. Tools for your teams, and the habits to keep building them. A project. One problem, fixed. The plan you just built, or a page like this one. A conversation. Thirty minutes, no agenda. About your agency, or about building with AI.