HoursKZ
HoursKZ is a Telegram-first workforce operations product for cafés, restaurants, and small service businesses that need practical scheduling, time tracking, approvals, checklists, and operational visibility.
The problem
Start with what was actually difficult.
Manual employee time tracking in a small coffee shop created avoidable friction for employees and administrators.
Origin
It began inside the founder's own coffee shop. The first idea was deliberately narrow: replace manual employee time tracking with a simpler Telegram workflow where employees were already comfortable working.
Context
Actual use changed the product. Time entry was connected to schedules, approvals, planned-versus-actual review, time off, shift coverage, checklists, notifications, history, and administration. The useful boundary was wider than the first feature, but it was discovered through operations rather than imagined in advance.
How the product evolved
Real use changed the implementation.
Role: Direct ownership across problem discovery, product decisions, workflow design, architecture, implementation, testing, deployment, and continued product evolution.
- 01
Begin with one repeated operational problem: manual time tracking.
- 02
Put the first workflow in Telegram to reduce employee friction.
- 03
Observe how administrators and employees use the tool in real work.
- 04
Expand only where adjacent needs repeatedly affect the original workflow.
Working result
What exists today.
- Telegram employee workflows with a web administration surface
- Scheduling, working-time submission, review, and planned-versus-actual visibility
- Time-off, coverage, checklists, notifications, audit history, reporting, and exports
Validation
How it has been tested.
- Used by real administrators and employees
- Browser-based QA across employee and administrator journeys
- Ongoing operational hardening and user testing
Relevant learning
What the work changed.
A small tool can become a product when real use exposes a connected operating problem. The important discipline is to let evidence widen the scope without pretending every possible extension is already delivered.Read the Journal