Most inefficiency is
inherited, not chosen.
Every stuck business is running on assumptions that were true once. Nobody re-examines them because they're invisible — they feel like reality rather than decisions. Our job starts by making them visible.
Signature exhibit 02 — tear one down
The Assumption Wall
Twelve sentences we hear in almost every business. Pull one off the wall and see what's behind it.
0 of 12 torn open
The uncomfortable part
Every one of those assumptions is protecting something: a habit, a hierarchy, or somebody's job description. That's why they survive.
Operating principles
Six rules we don't break
Nobody designed this
The process you're running is sediment: a decision from 2011, a workaround from a staff departure, a step added after one bad week. Treating it as intentional design is the first mistake.
The complaint is not the problem
"Invoicing is slow" is a symptom of a data problem three departments upstream. We follow it back rather than optimising the place where the pain surfaces.
Deletion beats automation
Automating a step that shouldn't exist makes waste faster and harder to remove. We look for what can go before we look for what can be built.
People are the constraint you keep
Judgement, relationships, accountability and taste don't automate well and shouldn't. The goal is to spend all of your people's attention on those things.
Efficiency is the down payment
Time saved is only interesting if it becomes capability gained. Otherwise you've built a slightly cheaper version of the same company.
It has to survive us leaving
If the new way of working needs a consultant to operate, it's theatre. Ownership transfers or the project isn't finished.