Service 05

Everyone manages metrics. We manage decisions.

A metric tells you what happened. A decision is the only thing in a business that costs money, accumulates as debt and can be remembered. In eight weeks we install the system that makes decisions fast, small and recorded — and measure the difference.

Discuss your decision process See the eight weeks

Executive summary

How fast a company grows is how fast it decides. There is a limited number of decisions you can make in a year. Every postponed one is subtracted from that number — with interest.

Most companies manage metrics. They look at the dashboard and either do nothing (that's reporting) or push on the metric itself (and the metric stops meaning anything). Decisions live in people's heads, get made late, get made big, and leave with the people who made them.

We install a different process. Every metric gets a corridor — the range you expect. Leaving the corridor, or staying still when it should have moved, is a signal with an owner and a date. A signal becomes a hypothesis with a success threshold set before you start. A weekly decision meeting gives every item one of three outcomes: do it, don't, or wait until a date. Every decision is written down in a ledger — the signal, the options, the choice, the review date — and gets a verdict when the date comes. Then the corridors and thresholds are recalibrated, and the next signal is caught earlier.

We call it the Decision Loop. The number we measure it with is Decision Age: how your decision-making compares with a company of your size. We measure it before we start and again at week eight.

What you get is not better decisions by magic. It's decisions that don't get postponed, don't grow big by waiting, and don't get made twice.

When this fits

This is for you if:

You have a queue of decisions nobody dates. “We'll decide when we know more” is a status in your company.
Big, forced decisions keep landing on your desk — the kind that should have been small three months ago.
The same decision gets made again a year later, because nobody wrote down what happened the first time.
Good results get called luck; nobody checks what changed and whether it can be repeated.
Initiatives run on without effect, and nobody notices for months.
You've done Data Therapy, the metrics are agreed — and now you want the process that runs on them.

This is probably not for you if:

You're about to retire. Then it's your successor's decision debt.

Decision Debt. Every postponed decision charges interest. An operational decision not taken this week becomes a tactical one next month, and a strategic one by the quarter. Same mistake — nobody decided — compounding. We measure it with three counters: decisions waiting without a date, signals without an owner older than seven days, and hypotheses past their deadline with no verdict. All three should read zero.

All three should read zero. When they don't, the process — not the people — is the problem.

What changes

Most companies	With the Decision Loop
Manage metrics	Manage decisions
Learn to make big decisions better	Build a system in which big decisions don't arise
Collect data to decide “properly”	Decide on what's there, with a threshold set in advance and a review date
React only to pain (a metric fell)	See five types of signal: threat, opportunity, silence, external, debt
A decision lives in the head of whoever made it	A decision is recorded: signal, threshold, choice, date, precedent
Decision experience leaves with people	It stays in the company
Post-mortems look for who's to blame	Reviews recalibrate thresholds — no names
Pride in complex strategic decisions	Forced big decisions treated as a process defect

Five principles

A decision is never postponed. Three outcomes only: do / don't / wait until a date. “Wait” without a date and a condition isn't a decision — it's debt.
Decide on the data you have now. In our experience, a preliminary decision on today's data matches the final one about 85% of the time. Waiting for complete data mostly buys confirmation of what you already know, at the price of time. The review date covers the rest.
Many small decisions instead of rare big ones. The error rate per decision is roughly the same at any size. The only lever is the size of the bet. A hundred £1k decisions and one £100k decision carry the same expected loss — but you learn from the first and can't learn from the second. Big decisions you chose the date for belong in the calendar. Big decisions the queue forced on you shouldn't exist.
A decision is a record, not an event. Without the signal, threshold, choice and date written down, a decision doesn't exist for the organisation: it can't be found, repeated or challenged.
The system learns, not the person. After every verdict three things change: metric corridors, hypothesis thresholds and the precedent base. Reviews don't look for culprits; they calibrate thresholds. The first step of any new decision is a search for a precedent.

Five types of signal

Most companies see one type of signal: pain. The other four pass by, because there is no corridor to compare against.

Threat

What it is: A metric below its corridor
Leads to: Fix or stop
Example: Project margin falls below 12%

Opportunity

What it is: A metric above its corridor
Leads to: Repeat and scale — this is where growth lives
Example: Tender-to-contract conversion twice the norm in one region

Silence

What it is: A metric that should have moved and didn't
Leads to: Kill or reformulate the hypothesis
Example: New sales channel launched; six weeks later the pipeline is unchanged

External

What it is: An event without a metric: market, client, competitor, a key person leaving
Leads to: Create a metric and corridor, then a hypothesis
Example: A key client replaces its head of procurement

Debt

What it is: A signal about the process itself: undated “wait”, overdue verdict, ownerless signal
Leads to: Decide the postponed decision now
Example: 14 decisions in the queue with no review date

Signal	What it is	Leads to	Example
Threat	A metric below its corridor	Fix or stop	Project margin falls below 12%
Opportunity	A metric above its corridor	Repeat and scale — this is where growth lives	Tender-to-contract conversion twice the norm in one region
Silence	A metric that should have moved and didn't	Kill or reformulate the hypothesis	New sales channel launched; six weeks later the pipeline is unchanged
External	An event without a metric: market, client, competitor, a key person leaving	Create a metric and corridor, then a hypothesis	A key client replaces its head of procurement
Debt	A signal about the process itself: undated “wait”, overdue verdict, ownerless signal	Decide the postponed decision now	14 decisions in the queue with no review date

Silence is the most expensive signal: an initiative with no effect keeps spending money and attention until someone notices the absence of a result. A corridor with a date turns silence into a signal automatically.

The Decision Loop

Seven steps. Memory feeds back twice: as a precedent before a new decision, and as recalibration after a verdict.

1
Goals → Metrics. Each goal gets two or three metrics with corridors. Once at the start, then every quarter.
2
Metrics → Signals. A metric leaves its corridor, or doesn't move — a signal appears with an owner and a hypothesis deadline. External events and process debt enter here too.
3
Signals → Hypotheses. The owner writes a testable hypothesis — “if we do X, metric Y changes by Z by date D” — with the success threshold set before starting. Step zero: search the ledger for a precedent.
4
Hypotheses → Decisions. At the weekly decision meeting: do / don't / wait until a date. Recorded at the moment it's made.
5
Decisions → Actions. The decision becomes an initiative or tasks, with owners and dates — in the tools you already have.
6
Actions → Verdicts. When the hypothesis deadline comes: a verdict against the threshold, and a residue — what we now know that we didn't. Even if the result is “unclear”.
7
Verdicts → Memory → Signals. The verdict goes into the ledger; corridors and thresholds are recalibrated; the next signal is caught on the new corridors.

Full description of the framework

Four meetings, three roles

Meetings exist to move something one step round the loop. There are no meetings for information — the ledger and the dashboard do that. About an hour and a half a week per function, plus a quarterly half-day. Usually less than you spend today on status meetings that decide nothing.

Meeting	Rhythm	Exit rule
Signal review	Weekly, 15 min	No signal leaves without an owner
Decision meeting	Weekly, 45 min	Every item gets one of three outcomes; the queue of postponed decisions is on screen the whole time
Verdict review	Every two weeks, 45 min	No overdue verdicts left; no names in the review
Goal review	Quarterly, 2 hours	Big decisions are taken here and only here

Three roles, not job titles — one person can hold two:

Signal owner — corridors, signal detection, data for every meeting. Usually your data team or analyst; we can provide one.
Decision owner — decisions in their function, review dates, precedents. Always your person.
Ledger keeper — completeness of records, process debt, recalibration, meeting agendas. Usually your COO or chief of staff. We run this role in the first months until you take it over.

How it works — eight weeks

Stage: Diagnosis (your free Data Therapy session, 45 min)
What happens: Your last ten significant decisions, three questions each. Three debt counters by hand.
You walk away with: One page: your Decision Age, three sub-scores, your queue of undecided decisions

Stage: Goals and metrics
What happens: 3–5 goals with a number and a date; 2–3 metrics each, with a data source
You walk away with: A goal and metric map

Stage: Corridors
What happens: A lower and upper bound for every metric, from history and the owner's judgement
You walk away with: 10–15 metrics with corridors; the first signals visible immediately

Stage: Ledger and first decision meeting
What happens: A ledger in a tool you already have; every postponed decision gets an outcome or a date
You walk away with: Undated backlog = 0

4–5

Stage: Rhythm
What happens: The four meetings start, by their exit rules; we run agendas and records
You walk away with: Two weeks on rhythm; first hypotheses with thresholds

6–7

Stage: First verdicts
What happens: Verdict review on the first hypotheses; first recalibration
You walk away with: First residues in the ledger; debt counters on the dashboard

Stage: Handover
What happens: Roles move to your team — or stay with us as team extension. Decision Age measured again
You walk away with: Decision Age before and after; your call on what's next

Week	Stage	What happens	You walk away with
0	Diagnosis (your free Data Therapy session, 45 min)	Your last ten significant decisions, three questions each. Three debt counters by hand.	One page: your Decision Age, three sub-scores, your queue of undecided decisions
1	Goals and metrics	3–5 goals with a number and a date; 2–3 metrics each, with a data source	A goal and metric map
2	Corridors	A lower and upper bound for every metric, from history and the owner's judgement	10–15 metrics with corridors; the first signals visible immediately
3	Ledger and first decision meeting	A ledger in a tool you already have; every postponed decision gets an outcome or a date	Undated backlog = 0
4–5	Rhythm	The four meetings start, by their exit rules; we run agendas and records	Two weeks on rhythm; first hypotheses with thresholds
6–7	First verdicts	Verdict review on the first hypotheses; first recalibration	First residues in the ledger; debt counters on the dashboard
8	Handover	Roles move to your team — or stay with us as team extension. Decision Age measured again	Decision Age before and after; your call on what's next

What we need from you: a sponsor at the top, one decision owner per function, and 90 minutes a week.

What you get

A map of goals and metrics with corridors — the range you expect, so deviations become signals instead of opinions.
A ledger with your first 20–40 decisions — searchable by metric, signal type and period. Yours; it doesn't leave with anyone.
Four meeting agendas with exit rules — the rhythm that doesn't let decisions slide.
A dashboard with three debt counters and signals by type — the state of your decision process, not just your business.
Decision Age before and after — one number, three sub-scores: speed, memory, size.

Decision Age — the number we start and finish with

Twenty minutes. You name your last ten significant decisions. For each, three questions:

Was it made within a week of the signal? → Speed
Can you show, in writing, why you decided and what came of it? → Memory
Did you choose the date — or did circumstances? → Size

The three scores multiply, not add: fast but unrecorded decisions score zero, on purpose. The result is compared with the framework's reference and expressed as an age — “your decisions are made at the level of a company a fraction of your size.”

One more question, outside the score: how many of the ten did you later reverse? In our experience it's around 15%. It's usually the most useful moment of the conversation.

Example — the same case in two processes

As it happens.

On a construction project, an MEP subcontractor raises an RFI: the drawing doesn't match site conditions. The project manager replies “I'll check with the designer” — no date. The RFI sits for 11 days. Work on that section stops; the crew moves elsewhere. Three weeks later the programme slips and the sequence has to be rebuilt — a tactical decision, £20k. Two months later the client receives a £180k variation and disputes it, because the delay “wasn't documented”. It goes to lawyers. One project manager remembers the whole story. He leaves a year later.

With the Decision Loop.

The metric “open RFIs older than 5 days” has a corridor of 0–2 per project. On day six the RFI becomes a threat signal with an owner and a two-day hypothesis deadline. The ledger shows three similar RFIs with this client: in two, “temporary fix agreed with the site engineer, variation requested the same day” worked. That precedent becomes the decision, with a threshold: variation of at least £8k agreed by a date. Two emails and one site meeting. Nine days later the variation is agreed at £11k. The residue goes into the ledger: “with this client, requesting the variation on the day of the signal cuts agreement to ten days.” The corridor for this client is tightened to 0–1.

£11k agreed, against £20k of rework and £180k in dispute. And the case stays in the company as a precedent, not in one person's head.

Where the technical work comes in

Corridors need metrics that are calculated from your systems, not by hand. Where the data isn't there, or lives in three places, the usual DNL work appears: integration, a data model, Power BI or Fabric. The framework says which data you need; the project gets it. In that order — the other way round produces a dashboard nobody looks at.

Tools and platforms

Power BI · Microsoft FabricCorridors, signals and the three debt counters on a dashboard your team already opens
SharePoint Lists · Airtable · NotionWhere the ledger usually lives at the start — a table in a tool you already have
Jira · Asana · PlannerInitiatives and tasks stay where they are; the framework adds the link task → decision → signal
Claude · CopilotThe ledger is the context that makes an AI assistant useful: ask it how you decided last time

All technologies

Formats

Project. The eight weeks above.
Outsourced function. We keep the Signal owner and Ledger keeper roles after week eight.
Team extension. An analyst or data engineer joins your team to own corridors and data.

Pricing on request. The diagnosis session is free.

FAQ

How is this different from Data Therapy?

Data Therapy works on your decisions in the room, every week — personal or with your leadership team. Process Transformation installs the system around them: corridors, signals, the ledger and the meetings, so the process runs without us. Many clients start with Data Therapy and move to this when the metrics are agreed.

Does this replace our dashboards?

No. It adds something dashboards don't have: corridors that turn numbers into signals, and three counters that show the state of your decision process, not just your business.

Does it make our decisions better?

It makes them faster, smaller and recorded — and it makes the system learn from each one. Whether a decision is right is still your judgement. We don't promise otherwise.

What about forecasts and models?

A forecast can be one source of a corridor. It doesn't replace the loop.

Do we need new software?

No. The ledger is a table in a tool you already have. Initiatives and tasks stay in your project tools. The dashboard is usually Power BI.

How much time does it take from the leadership team?

About 90 minutes a week per function, and a half-day each quarter. Most companies find it replaces status meetings that decided nothing.

What if it isn't taking?

Three signs: the decision meeting is postponed twice in a row; decisions appear in the ledger after the fact; corridors haven't changed in six weeks. Any one of them and we stop and look at why, rather than carry on with the plan.

What's your Decision Age?

Book the free diagnosis

45 minutes. Ten decisions, three questions each. One page back.