Start with the problem. Earn the technology.
Six ways to remove capacity loss. Each is assessed on the evidence; none is the default.
The question each rung is assessed against: is this the lowest-complexity intervention that can materially move the target metric?
- StopUse when
The activity adds no value to the client, the firm or a control.
- SimplifyUse when
Steps, approvals or hand-offs exist that the outcome doesn’t need.
- StandardiseUse when
Teams or offices do the same work in materially different ways.
- WorkflowUse when
Work is lost in queues, inboxes and hand-offs between people.
- AutomateUse when
Rules are stable and volume is repeatable.
- AIUse when
Unstructured information or variable interpretation is materially constraining the process.
Don’t whenDeterministic rules solve the problem reliably.
The preferred intervention is the simplest one that reliably achieves the outcome and clears the economic and control threshold.
The ladder is the principle, not a recommendation. Which rung fits a given workflow is decided on that workflow's evidence.