Skip to content

Method

The work moves from evidence to a system the business can operate.

The output is not a recommendation sitting outside the business. Each phase has a decision gate, a client responsibility, and an operating condition that must exist before the work advances.

Phase 1

Diagnose

Question
What is happening, where, how often, and with what consequence?
Work
Collect context, evidence, workflow, stakeholder, performance, customer, and constraint data. Separate fact, statement, pattern, inference, and hypothesis.
Gate
Evidence is sufficient to defend the primary constraint.

Phase 2

Decide

Question
Which problem deserves intervention first?
Work
Evaluate impact, urgency, dependency, effort, risk, readiness, and opportunity cost. Name what should not be done yet.
Gate
Sponsor accepts the problem definition, priority, and boundary.

Phase 3

Design

Question
What system must exist for the business to behave differently?
Work
Define trigger, workflow, ownership, decision rights, standards, controls, data, exceptions, measures, cadence, training, and change process.
Gate
The architecture is feasible and implementation-ready.

Phase 4

Deploy

Question
Can the system work under real operating conditions?
Work
Configure, pilot, train, measure, resolve exceptions, and expand only after the control works.
Gate
Representative scenarios and users pass the control test.

Phase 5

Transfer

Question
Can the client operate and improve the system without me?
Work
Transfer ownership, source files, decisions, maintenance, metrics, risks, and improvement backlog.
Gate
The client owner can explain, run, measure, and change the system within governance.

Principles

  • Evidence before prescription.
  • One primary constraint before ten initiatives.
  • Decision rights before automation.
  • Pilot before scale.
  • Adoption and control before “complete.”
  • Reduce scope before integrity.
  • Transfer capability rather than create routine dependence.

Start with the phase your business is missing.