Services

Services for the operating system, named one by one.

Each service below is a real piece of operational management. The purpose, the customer it fits, the scope, the process, and the deliverables are written so you can tell whether it belongs in a proposal.

They are commissioned through a Range Review, an operating system build, or a cadence retainer. The way an engagement moves is on the method page. A service is not sold as a downloadable template, and this website does not take payment.

Operating model

Decision rights, the interfaces between functions, and the forums that keep them honest.

Purpose

Give the organisation a shared picture of how it is supposed to run, so decisions stop pooling with the owner by default.

An operating model here is not a new organisation chart and it is not a slogan. It names who decides, what they need in order to decide, and which conversation is allowed to change the plan.

The work starts from the decisions the firm actually makes in a month: what to promise a customer, what to defer, who can spend, and who accepts a handoff. Those decisions are then placed at the altitude where the information already sits.

Who it is for

Owner-led service and light production firms where growth has made "ask the founder" the only reliable decision system.

Scope

A decision-rights map for the recurring operating decisions, not for every exception.
The interfaces between the functions that depend on each other.
The management forums that already exist, kept, cut, or redesigned.
The role of the owner once the forums can carry ordinary decisions.

Process

Read the current forums and the decisions they actually take.
Speak with the people who decide and the people who wait for those decisions.
Draft a lighter model and walk it through with the owner and the operations lead.
Agree what will be tried for one cycle, and what will be left alone.

Deliverables

An operating-model note in plain language.
A decision-rights matrix for the recurring decisions.
A forum calendar with a purpose for each meeting.
An open-questions log, so unresolved items are not lost in memory.

Process architecture

The few end-to-end processes that carry the customer’s work, and the handoffs that currently fail.

Purpose

Make the path of the work visible at the altitude managers use, including the exception path.

Most firms do not need a procedure for every task. They need a clear architecture for the processes that create, deliver, and get paid for the work. The failures usually sit at the handoffs, not inside a single team’s effort.

Each process is written so a manager can see the trigger, the handoff, the owner, and what happens when the work does not fit the normal path. Detailed desk instructions are left to the team unless a handoff cannot be trusted without them.

Who it is for

Firms that lose time between sales, delivery, procurement, and finance, and that feel the cost as rework, waiting, or disputed invoices.

Scope

Three to seven core processes, named with the client, not a catalogue of every activity.
Handoff rules: input, timing, and what "good" means.
The exception path for the cases that currently escalate to senior people.
A named owner for each process, who is already inside the firm.

Process

Walk one live cycle of each process in scope, with the people who touch it.
Mark the handoffs that fail and the ones that already work.
Write the process at management altitude and test the wording with the owner of the process.
Agree the exception path and the point at which it must escalate.

Deliverables

Process descriptions at management altitude.
Handoff rules for the interfaces in scope.
An exception path for each core process.
A one-page process index the managers can keep current.

A technician guiding a large machined part through a plant bay. — A process is checked against live work, not only against a description of it.

Management cadence

A weekly and monthly rhythm that surfaces constraints without creating a reporting theatre.

Purpose

Install a review that changes a decision, and remove the meetings and measures that do not.

A cadence is the set of conversations, at a set time, with a set of facts, in which managers choose what will be different before the next conversation. A dashboard that nobody is prepared to act on is not a cadence.

The measure set is kept short on purpose. A measure stays only if someone can name the decision it changes. The meeting has a chair, a pre-read, and a decision log. If the meeting cannot change anything, it is cancelled rather than decorated.

Who it is for

Leadership teams that already collect numbers and still cannot say, in the room, what will be different next week.

Scope

The weekly operating review and the monthly review, including who must be present.
A short measure set, with a definition and an owner for each measure.
The pre-read: what is prepared, by whom, and by when.
The decision log and the rule for items that are not ready.

Process

Observe one existing cycle before designing a new one.
Cut the measures to those that change a decision.
Rehearse the meeting with the people who will chair it.
Leave a chair’s guide and one worked example of a review pack.

Deliverables

A cadence calendar.
Measure definitions and owners.
An agenda and a chair’s guide.
One worked example of the review pack, using the client’s own facts.

Capacity planning

A visible picture of what the operation can take on, and the rules for promising work.

Purpose

Bring the promise made to a customer into line with the constraint that actually limits output.

Capacity planning here is not a software implementation and it is not a year-long forecast. It is a picture, maintained by a named person, of the constraint resource and of the work already promised against it.

Sales and operations then share a rule for accepting work. The rule can be simple. What matters is that a promise is checked against the picture before it is made, and that the picture is updated on the same rhythm as the management cadence.

Who it is for

Firms that sell faster than they can deliver, or that staff and schedule by habit rather than by a picture of the load.

Scope

The demand picture for the horizon the firm actually uses to promise work.
The constraint resource, named, rather than a model of every role.
The planning rhythm and the person who updates the picture.
Promise rules agreed with the people who sell and the people who deliver.

Process

Identify the resource that actually limits output, using recent work rather than opinion alone.
Build a load view that the planner will maintain after the engagement.
Agree promise rules with sales and with the operations lead.
Run the first planning cycle together and adjust the view where it will not be kept.

Deliverables

A capacity view the firm can update without the practice.
Written promise rules.
The role that owns the update, and the cadence it belongs to.
Notes from the first planning cycle, including what was changed.

Interlocking metal gears inside a machine. — The next step only works when the previous one has actually arrived.

Cross-functional coordination

An explicit contract for one or two interfaces that currently rely on escalation.

Purpose

Stop senior people being the routing system between functions that depend on each other.

Coordination work is scoped to a recurring failure between functions, not to a general programme about culture. Typical interfaces are delivery and procurement, client service and operations, or operations and finance.

The interface gets a contract: what moves, in what form, by when, and what happens if it is late or incomplete. A short joint review keeps the contract honest. Escalation remains, but it is no longer the ordinary path.

Who it is for

Organisations where work stalls between departments and where the owner or a director has become the person who carries information across.

Scope

One or two interfaces, named in the proposal.
The recurring failure, described in operating terms rather than as a blame.
The interface contract: inputs, timing, and quality.
The joint review and the remaining escalation rule.

Process

Describe the last few failures with both sides of the interface.
Separate the failure of information from a genuine shortage of capacity.
Write the interface contract and test it against a live item of work.
Install a short joint review and agree when escalation is still required.

Deliverables

An interface contract.
An escalation rule.
A joint-review agenda and the names of the people who attend.
A short note of the first review, held during the engagement.

Operational readiness

Preparation for a dated change: a new service line, a second site, a partner, or a first cross-border workflow.

Purpose

Define what "ready" means before the change is live, and close the operating gaps that would otherwise appear in front of the customer.

Readiness is always against a named change with a date. It is not a general transformation. The practice helps the firm say what must be true on the first day, what can wait, and who owns the preparation.

The gaps are operating gaps: roles, handoffs, capacity, information, and the management conversation that will run during the first weeks. Legal, tax, and software design stay with the specialists the client already uses.

Who it is for

Managers facing a dated change who need the operation prepared, and who cannot afford to discover the gaps after customers are already in the new path.

Scope

Readiness criteria for the named change.
A gap list against the current operation.
A preparation sequence that fits the date.
Go-live roles for the first cycle, including who can stop the launch.

Process

Write the change in operating terms: what will be different on the first day.
Gap the current roles, handoffs, capacity, and cadence against that picture.
Sequence the preparation and name an owner for each gap that must close.
Rehearse go-live week, including the decision that would delay the start.

Deliverables

Readiness criteria.
A gap list with owners and dates.
A preparation sequence.
Go-live roles and a simple stop rule.

An empty meeting room with a long table and tall windows, set for a review. — A cadence needs a room with a purpose, not a standing meeting by habit.

How a service becomes a piece of work

Tell the practice which strain you recognise, or start from the operation rather than from a service name. The briefing sorts out whether the right first step is a Range Review or a build already framed by a dated change. Fees are stated in a proposal, not on this page.

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