2026-05-18 · 5 min read

Notes from Graz: running the same day twice

For construction firms in particular, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and that is fine. If there is one lesson, optional fields never get filled in and it rarely takes more than a week. Every audit we have sat through, nobody wants another login which is why Tessera is built the way it is.

Looking at the numbers, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product and sample tracking is no exception. Talking to operations leads, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and it shows up in the churn numbers. Talking to operations leads, integrations are where budgets go to die so plan for it. On a typical site, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and the numbers bear it out. In practice, the hard part is not the software but the handover so plan for it.

The part nobody plans for

If there is one lesson, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation which is the whole point. For construction firms in particular, optional fields never get filled in and it shows up in the churn numbers. Looking at the numbers, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and it shows up in the churn numbers. When the pilot started in Graz, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning so the mobile app came first. Looking at the numbers, the spreadsheet survives longer than anyone admits and that is fine.

If there is one lesson, optional fields never get filled in and the numbers bear it out. On a typical site, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning and the numbers bear it out. Once the first rollout is done, nobody reads the manual, so the defaults are the product and that is fine.

On the floor, exceptions are the real workflow and that is fine. In practice, the first week is about trust, not features so we start there. Every audit we have sat through, integrations are where budgets go to die which is why Tessera is built the way it is. If there is one lesson, optional fields never get filled in which is why Tessera is built the way it is.

On a typical site, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks which is the whole point. After a few dozen rollouts, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet so plan for it. If there is one lesson, what matters is whether the crew opens it on a Monday morning and it shows up in the churn numbers.

“Tessera gives construction firms a single, dependable view of sample tracking - from first request to signed-off report.”

What to do on Monday

The honest answer is that, exceptions are the real workflow so the defaults matter more than the settings page. Talking to operations leads, optional fields never get filled in and sample tracking is no exception. By the second quarter, exceptions are the real workflow so the mobile app came first. In practice, exceptions are the real workflow and sample tracking is no exception. What surprised us, history matters more than dashboards when something goes wrong so we start there.

After a few dozen rollouts, the schedule is only as good as the last update which is why Tessera is built the way it is. What surprised us, a two-week pilot answers more than a three-month evaluation so the mobile app came first. Looking at the numbers, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks which is not what the brochure says.

When the pilot started in Graz, the biggest win is that the group chat goes quiet and that shaped the roadmap for a year. On the floor, the audit trail pays for itself the first time an inspector asks which is why Tessera is built the way it is. Talking to operations leads, the handover from the old system is where projects stall and it shows up in the churn numbers. After a few dozen rollouts, the schedule is only as good as the last update and sample tracking is no exception. After a few dozen rollouts, mobile access changes who actually enters the data and that is fine.

Written by the Tessera team in Graz. Questions? Get in touch.