Primer Automation Lab
Build the fix for the HR problem you keep working around.
The Primer Automation Lab (PAL) is a live, hands-on build room for practising HR professionals. You bring a real people or process problem, and you leave with a working tool, workflow or system that you made yourself.
What happens in the Lab
You learn AI by solving something you actually need.
Most AI training leaves you with notes. In the Lab, you start with a problem from your own work, such as a recruitment tracker held together by spreadsheets, an appraisal cycle you run by hand, or reports you can’t pull when your MD asks for them.
Then you build the solution live, with a coach in the room. Sometimes that’s a new tool. Sometimes it’s a workflow that connects the tools you already pay for, or a process redesigned so the manual steps disappear.
You don’t need a coding background. Your HR knowledge is what tells you what to build, and that’s the part most developers don’t have.
Our goal is to leave people more capable, not more dependent.
- 1
Bring a real problem
Something from your week that costs you time, accuracy or credibility.
- 2
Build it live
You work on your own laptop, on your own problem, during the session.
- 3
Get unstuck in the room
When something breaks, you fix it with support instead of giving up alone at home.
- 4
Leave with something that works
A tool you made and can explain, plus the confidence to build the next one.
Ways to join
Pick the format that fits your time and your goal.
Start with one problem in a single workshop, go further over a full sprint, or bring the Lab into your company for your whole team.
Monthly · Live online
One-off workshops
One session, one problem, one thing built. A good place to start if you want to see how the Lab works before committing to a sprint.
- A different HR problem each month
- You build alongside the coach, step by step
- You leave with a working result from that session
Cohort · Live online
Build sprints
A cohort that builds together over several weeks, going from your first tool to connected workflows and AI agents. Each step builds on the last.
Three seat options. What each one includes is on the sprint page.
See the current sprintFor companies
PAL In-House
We bring the Lab to your HR or people team and build on your own processes, so the tools fit how your company works. The aim is for your team to keep building after we leave.
- Built around your team’s real problems
- Uses our Capability Transfer Method
- Your team owns what it builds
Built in the Lab
HR people, not developers, built these.
₦750,000
Hackathon prize · HR of the Future Hackathon 2025
Bilikis couldn’t use Airtable when she joined the Lab. She went on to build an AI-powered culture-fit assessment tool, entered it at the HR of the Future Hackathon at Kendor Consulting’s HR Bootcamp Conference 2025, and won. The prize came to almost three times what she paid for the programme.
Bilikis
Primer Automation Lab
A live appraisal cycle
Performance Management System · now in use
Victoria built a full Performance Management System in the Lab. Her management approved it, her company ran its appraisal cycle on it, and it saved them an HRIS subscription. She now co-coaches in the Lab.
“From zero clue to building a full Performance Management System, presented to management, approved, and used for our first biannual appraisal. AI Automation is officially part of my story now.”
Victoria O.
Primer Automation Lab
One more from Sprint 1: the final session was led by a participant, teaching the rest of the cohort what they had built.
Is it for you?
The Lab works best when you’re already doing the job.
A good fit if you
- work in HR or people operations and run too much of it by hand
- have no HRIS budget, or a system that doesn’t do what you need
- have watched plenty of AI content and still don’t know what to build first
- want to walk into your next meeting with something you built yourself
Probably not the right fit if you
- are trying to break into HR. Start with the HR Primer Launchpad instead.
- want a lecture series to watch rather than something to build
- expect every manual process in your company to disappear after one session
Questions people ask
Before you sign up.
I’m not technical. Will I keep up?
Yes. The Lab is built for HR professionals, and your domain knowledge is the advantage. You know what the process should do and where it breaks. We show you how to turn that into a tool, one step at a time.
I don’t have much time. Is this realistic?
Participants have built working tools in a few hours. A one-off workshop is a single session, and each sprint session ends with something built.
What if what I build doesn’t work?
You build live, with a coach and the rest of the group around you. When something breaks, you fix it in the session with support, which is a big part of how you learn.
Should I start with a workshop or a sprint?
If you want to try the Lab on one problem first, start with a workshop. If you want to go from your first tool to connected workflows and AI agents, join a sprint.
Can my company bring the Lab to our team?
Yes. PAL In-House runs the Lab for your HR or people team, on your own processes. Book a call and tell us what your team is working on.
Ready to build
Bring the problem. We’ll build the fix together.
Join the next sprint, try a monthly workshop, or talk to us about running the Lab for your team.