About · 段取り

The value is in the preparation.

We named the company after a Japanese idea that describes, almost exactly, what good AI needs — and what the industry keeps skipping.

The word
段取り dan·do·ri段 dan — a step, a stage
取り tori — to take, to arrange

is a word Japanese craftsmen, chefs, and builders use every day. It means the preparation and sequencing you do before the real work begins — the order of operations, the tools set out, the steps arranged so that once you start, nothing gets in the way.

It isn't planning on paper, in the abstract boardroom sense. It's practical and physical: readiness you can see on the bench. A chef's dandori is every cut and measure laid out before service. A carpenter's dandori is the sequence that makes the joint fit the first time.

段取り八分、
仕事二分

dandori hachibu, shigoto nibu

"Preparation is eight-tenths of the work; the work itself is two." The outcome is decided before you begin. It's a maker's proverb — earned in workshops and kitchens, where the day goes well or badly depending on what you did before you picked up the tool.

Where the word comes from

A word from the workshop, not the boardroom.

Dandori (段取り) is an ordinary Japanese word, used every day by people who work with their hands. A carpenter setting out for a job runs through their dandori: which cuts, in what order, which tools laid where, so the work flows without a wasted motion. A chef's dandori is the mise en place before service — every element prepped, portioned, and positioned so that when the tickets come, the cooking is almost automatic. A stagehand, a farmer, a printer — each has their dandori, the arranging done before the doing.

The two characters carry the whole idea. 段 (dan) means a step, a stage, a level — the sense of things done in sequence. 取り (tori) means taking or arranging — actively putting things in place. Together: to arrange the steps. Not to plan in the abstract, but to physically ready the work so that when you begin, nothing is in your way.

There is a proverb every Japanese craftsman knows: — dandori hachibu, shigoto nibu. "Preparation is eight parts; the work itself, two." It is a startling claim if you've never worked a trade: that eighty percent of a job is finished before you pick up the tool. But anyone who has cooked a service or built a cabinet knows it's simply true. The outcome is decided in the preparation. The visible work is just the last, easy fifth.

That is the idea we built a company on — because it describes, almost exactly, what artificial intelligence for business actually needs and almost never gets.

A traditional Japanese artisan at work — kneeling, mallet raised, tools laid out in order, working with calm focus. The craftsman's preparation is the spirit of dandori.
Preparation is eight-tenths of the work.
Why it's the right name

Why we named a company after it.

Because the word describes the exact thing the AI industry keeps skipping. The models are already capable — what's missing is the dandori around them: the context, the rules, the sequencing, the connection to the tools a business already uses. Prepare those first and AI works quickly and safely. Skip them and projects stall.

So we built the whole company around the preparation. Do it properly, and working AI in thirty days isn't a rush — it's simply what good dandori makes possible.

What we believe
  • Understand before you automate. Never automate a mess.
  • Prepare, don't improvise. The rules are written down first.
  • Keep people in control. The agent checks with you where it matters.
  • Own what you build. The learning is yours, portable, no lock-in.
  • Prove it quickly. Working software in thirty days, not a slide deck.
Who we are

Builders, not consultants.

Dandori exists for enterprises that can't afford a science project. You may have an AI team stretched thin, or none at all. You don't have quarters to spare on a pilot that never ships. You need something that works, that you understand, and that you own.

We're the people who prepare it. We treat your operation the way a craftsman treats material — we learn how it behaves before we cut. We'd rather spend the first week understanding your work than the last week apologizing for automating it badly. That patience up front is the whole reason we can move fast afterward.

段取り八分、仕事二分. Preparation is most of the work. We do that part properly, so the rest almost takes care of itself.

段取り八分 · Preparation decides the outcome

Now you know the name. See what it means in practice.

The story is the easy part. Watching preparation turn one of your own workflows into a working agent is where it lands. That's what a workshop is for.

Book a workshop →