The Bus Test. If you got hit by a bus tomorrow, what stops?

You will not be asked to explain your business.

Most owners cannot describe how they decide things, and that is not a failing — after twenty years the reasoning collapses into a feeling. So we do not ask. We walk through two or three times you actually made the call, and the rule falls out of the difference between them.

1. 1You name the decision. Usually the easiest way in is the last time you were away for more than two days. Whatever they called you about is almost always the one.
2. 2We walk through real cases. Not policy. The actual ones. What you looked at, what you knew, what you said.
3. 3We find what separates them. One where you said yes, one where you said no. The difference between those two is the rule.
4. 4We read it back and you correct us. That correction is usually the real rule. People cannot produce it from scratch but they spot a wrong version instantly.
5. 5You get one page, inside 24 hours. The decision, what you need to know first, the rule, the exceptions, and what to do when unsure. Plain English, hand it to whoever needs it. It is also the build spec, which is why the next step is short.

We turn work down on this call.

Some decisions cannot be handed over and we would rather tell you that in twenty minutes than after you have paid us. If the call is really about a relationship rather than a rule, if the information you decide on is not written down anywhere, or if your best person would have got both of those calls right on their own, then this is a delegation problem and not a build problem. We will say so.

You still keep the page.