The statement first, then the figure
The screen starts with a sentence. Whoever wants the figures behind it opens them up.
Practice / The picture of the business
The picture of the business
Most analyses mainly say that a lot has happened. A picture of the business shows what needs attention now, and stays quiet when nothing does.
The starting point
The work
in between.
- Every system has its own analysis. A dependable overall view needs agreed words, agreed dates and connections that are kept up.
- At the end of the month a report appears that few people read and that rarely changes a concrete decision.
- Whether the business is doing well is judged by the bank balance, and that lags behind.
- What gets noticed gets noticed because a person happened to look.
A suitable design
What needs to
work together.
These components describe one possible individual scope. Scope and rules are agreed with your business.
Silence is an answer
A system that reports something every day is ignored after two weeks. What gets reported is what is due.
Every figure with its derivation
There is no measure whose making cannot be read off. What is not derived does not appear.
An example decision card
Everything is running. Two things need you.
Everything ran overnight. What could be done without you is done.
On days when nothing is due, this says: nothing. That is the aim, not the exception.
What does that sentence come from?
- all checks overnight: passed
- open decisions: two
- deadlines within the lead time: none urgent
- → the sentence follows from that, not the other way round
07 · To condense
What really needs a decision today.
Twenty-six live cases produce hundreds of entries. Let only the three exceptions come out of them, the ones where somebody has to decide today.
Deadline and decision
Which points belong at the top today?
The picture shows exceptions with their source. Normal cases are counted but not turned into messages.
- 26 live jobs checked23 within their usual deadlines and capacity data state
- Tuesday over capacity9 hours planned against 8 available · two solutions exist signal
- Invoice R-2026-184 overdue€4,860 · six days · reminder prepared, not sent signal
- Certificate invalid before submissioncommission the renewal by 7 August at the latest signal
Cases checked
26What runs normally and what needs a decision today have not been separated yet.
History
The starting position and the check that ran stay distinguishable.
- Agent · picture of the business Check started across jobs, appointments, open items and certificates.
An illustration. Cases, appointments, invoices and certificates are invented; no real business data is analysed.
Quiet is a result
Twenty-three cases need no attention today. A good picture of the business evidences that, without producing a message for every normal state.
Every line leads to its source
The condensing is not a black box. The appointment, the invoice and the certificate can each be traced straight back from the decision.
The countercheck
Where things
can go wrong.
Measures pull behaviour after them. As soon as a figure is visible it gets optimised, including when it measures the wrong thing. So every measure comes with the question of what behaviour it produces, before it goes on the screen.
A useful first trial includes this failure case explicitly. Fast processing alone is not success if checking and correction create more work.
The connection to the next task
Your first stage
Start where
the work improves.
For The picture of the business, we choose a bounded first outcome with your team. Existing specialist systems can stay where they fulfil necessary requirements. We compare time relief, payments that can end and the cost of the new way of working.
The workshop gives you priorities and a roadmap. You can continue internally or with support from Markus Kirchmair. The choice of model and agent follows the task, with data and rules retained outside an individual chat.
Explore the workshop →Ready for the next change
Keep the work simple.
The first view should show the next relevant decision. Reasoning and sources remain accessible. We leave out unnecessary features and make actual progress visible.
When a rule changes, agents can help investigate the impact, prepare the adjustment and update tests and documentation. A qualified person assesses the result and its adoption.
Try a change →Your first step
Say yes
to less.
Less unnecessary software. More room for your work. Let’s find the useful first step.