The 825 / Built for people who help others

What are you trying to make better?

We help people understand a question, find useful context and improve the way work gets done. Explore free workflows, prompts and research, or use prepared data kits when you want some of the source work done for you.

01 / Information

Make a data-informed decision

Prepared datasets with source tables, methods and clear limits. Choose a $1 table, $5 visual package or $10 report.

Browse available data kits
02 / Process

Improve how the work gets done

Free worksheets, database starting points and handoff guides to adapt to your own process.

Explore workflows and templates
03 / AI learning

Use AI with a clearer purpose

Prepared prompts, practical exercises and research reading paths. Define the task, check the result and keep judgment with people.

Explore prompts and AI learning

How the pieces connect

A useful answer has more than one layer.

“What should I understand before moving my family?” is bigger than a house price. Work, housing costs, care, schools, transport and everyday life all shape the question.

01 / Understand

See what the evidence says

Start with a chart or table. Follow its sources, dates and definitions. Separate a community pattern from what it means for one family.

See a housing-context research draft
02 / Connect

Ask what else matters

Compare the dimensions that affect your decision. Notice what has been measured, what is missing and what you need to check locally.

Explore a two-community family example
03 / Put it to work

Make your next step clearer

Use a worksheet to organize your questions and checks. Start from prepared data when it fits, or inspect the source yourself.

Find a workflow you can adapt

These examples are starting points with stated coverage limits. A city profile, a community comparison and a county dataset answer different parts of the question. None replaces checking current local availability or your own circumstances.

Find a starting point for your journey

Choose any filters, or browse everything. You do not need to fit one role. These are editorial starting points, not personalized recommendations.

Browse all 19 starting points below. Filters become available when JavaScript is enabled.

Place-based data kits compare counties within the selected state. Worksheets, AI learning and the book are usable anywhere. City-specific examples remain clearly labeled.

data / Paid kits: $1 / $5 / $10

What do family composition and work patterns look like across counties?

Prepared Census tables. Useful background for planning, with distinct populations and periods documented. These do not identify child care openings or individual household needs.

Family and household data

data / Paid kits: $1 / $5 / $10

Where are households spending more of their income on housing?

County rent and owner cost-burden datasets. Compare within the stated universe; these are not current listings or affordability advice.

Housing costs and tenure

data / Paid kits: $1 / $5 / $10

How do work, participation and employment differ by county?

Prepared county tables with source definitions and reusable exports. These are community indicators, not current job vacancies.

Workforce and employment

data / Paid kits: $1 / $5 / $10

Which counties are growing, and how does the ranking change?

Distinguish the number of residents added from percentage growth. Inspect the source period before using the comparison.

Population and growth

data / Free sample / $10 bundle

What local evidence could support a California grant-planning conversation?

A free Riverside sample and a $10 county bundle. Data supports a needs discussion; it does not establish eligibility or guarantee funding.

California grant-planning bundle

example / Example with coverage limits

What should I check before comparing two communities for my family?

A public-source example with coverage limits. Confirm child care, schools, parks and activities directly; it is not a comprehensive live directory.

Phoenix and Tempe family comparison

example / Research draft / not a paid kit

What do housing burden and family-work indicators tell us, separately?

A city research draft. Its eight observations use different populations and do not establish household-level relationships.

Los Angeles housing context

workflow / Free CSV worksheet

Where does the repeated task get stuck?

Download a CSV worksheet to record steps, ownership and the next action. Adapt it to the work you actually do.

Workflow tracker

workflow / Free worksheet

How much work can our current process handle?

Estimate workload and capacity with your own assumptions. Check the result against actual work.

Capacity worksheet

workflow / Free worksheet

How can the next person continue without starting over?

Document what exists, who owns it, what needs checking and what comes next.

Maintenance handoff

workflow / Free CSV template

How can I organize information so someone else can use it?

Plan fields and purpose before choosing a tool or collecting more information.

Database planning template

workflow / Workflow starting point

We used to do it this way. What could work better?

Start a scoped exploration of your current process and the next useful improvement.

Improve My Workflow

ai / Free starting prompts

How can AI help me describe a task and check its output?

Three starting prompts for process mapping, evidence checking and handoffs. Use public or fictional examples and verify results.

Prepared prompts and exercises

ai / Free field guides

How do I give an agent enough context and a clear stopping point?

Documented patterns for scoped context, implementation and handoffs, each with checks and limits.

Breadcrumbs workflow patterns

ai / Free research library

What evidence should I consider before adopting an AI approach?

Read selected research and repository profiles with explicit review depth and source links.

StaleToast research and repositories

tool / Separate product / check current access

What tools are available for student-support work?

Visit the dedicated product site to review its current tools, scope and access.

CounselorDesk

book / Book / separate purchase

How do I turn what I know about a process into a useful system?

The book connects practical process knowledge with information systems and human judgment.

From Archivist to Architect

data / Paid kits: $1 / $5 / $10

How does household computer access differ for younger and older residents?

Prepared Census comparisons for people under 18 and age 65 and over in households. Computer presence is not a measure of skill, internet speed or access at school or a library.

Computer access by age

data / Paid kits: $1 / $5 / $10

What should we understand about vehicle access before planning services?

County vehicle-availability comparisons by household size. Household size does not identify families, and no vehicle does not establish a lack of transport alternatives.

Household size and vehicle access

One question can lead to a better one.

A table can show a pattern. The source and the question explain what that pattern means. A workflow helps you turn that understanding into a repeatable next step.

Our aim is to make information accessible, transparent and useful, and help people improve the processes around it. You can explore the sources yourself, adapt the free resources or use a prepared package to save time. The context and the checks should stay visible either way.

Where we are taking the questions next

Our research direction spans families, child care, education, housing, work, transport, health, community services and the conditions around everyday life. We want to connect local, regional, national and international context where compatible evidence supports it.

These are areas to investigate, not a claim that a complete kit or current directory exists for every topic or place. Published resources show their actual geography, source period, review status and gaps.

Explore the question-planning library

Looking for every product, including pilots and archived work? Explore the full portfolio below. Meet the person behind The 825.

Explore the full portfolio, services and pilots

Full portfolio and service status

Live resources, separate products and pilots have different access and readiness. Check the status of each before relying on it.

Featured work

Services

Support shaped around the work you do.

The 825 helps make useful systems simpler to use and easier to maintain. Start with the people, the task, and the tools already in place.

  • Website development and ongoing support. Build a clear site and keep its content and structure useful as the work changes.
  • Workflow improvement. Simplify repeated steps, automate suitable parts, and turn what works into a routine or template people can adapt.
  • Custom portals and operational dashboards. Bring a team's tasks, reporting, resources, and follow-through into one place tailored to its actual workflow.

Public-data packs and change monitoring

Have public pages you check repeatedly? Start with a source-linked CSV and JSON file, then decide whether monitoring is useful.

Discuss another project

Guides, pilots, and internal work

Available book · Office and program leaders

From Archivist to Architect

A field guide for practitioners building information systems their teams can use and maintain. Available on Kindle.

About the bookGet the book on Amazon

Pilot · Teams using AI agents

The 825 Trust Plane

A governed operating layer for teams using multiple AI agents. It coordinates handoffs, binds approvals, supports recovery, and records evidence of completion.

Explore the Trust Plane

Working method · Mr. Jovan Smith

Collaborative Intelligence in Practice

I use Codex and Claude to help turn conversations into work someone can finish. I set the priority, decide who owns the next step, and say what evidence will count as done.

See how a handoff works

From a request to a checked result

A small website repair shows how I work. Visitors needed a direct route to the Breadcrumbs field guide and the StaleToast catalog. The job was finished when the links on the published pages reached the right destinations.

  1. Choose the result. I decide what matters to the visitor. For this repair, a visitor had to be able to start on any of four pages and reach either resource.
  2. Give one person or tool the next step. I use a dispatcher to route the request to the existing owner. The task record names the pages to change and what to check. A board points back to that record so another reviewer can pick it up.
  3. Build and review. An AI assistant can draft an edit. A reviewer compares the change with the request. Automated HTML checks catch structural mistakes. I decide when a change is ready to publish.
  4. Check what visitors get. Open the published page and follow its links to the intended destination. If it still shows old links, keep the task open and check the deployment before repeating the edit.

Try the same handoff with meeting notes. Write down the decision, who agreed to act, and how they will know the work is complete. If nobody accepted the action, leave the owner open and ask before assigning it.

Use the free Breadcrumbs field guide to try this with your own team. If the handoff keeps breaking, bring one workflow to The 825. We can discuss adapting the template, testing it with an example, or teaching the team how to use it.

Earlier work used Jarvis. I have retired it from my own workflow. Its historical case study documents that earlier approach.