Cases and examples: decisions and what came of them
Real cases and examples, each one labelled. A real case comes from my own company or from work with a client who agreed to publication. In an example the company and the figures are made up, and the situations come from real work. Each shows the signal, the decision, the action, the outcome and the learning. And what it does not prove.
Construction
A real case from my building materials company, and three examples from one made-up general contractor. An example is always labelled: its company and figures are made up, the situations come from real work.
-
Real case
My building materials company: buying a year ahead
Once a year, the purchase for the year ahead: from consumption, customers and hypotheses. The forecast came within about 5%.
My own company · purchasing -
Example
Example: an invoice €17,000 over the estimate, without the site manager’s signature
A subcontractor’s invoice €17,000 over the estimate, the site manager’s measurement and the rule “no invoice without his signature”.
General contractor · crew invoices -
Example
Example: a familiar supplier’s invoice with someone else’s bank details
A familiar supplier’s invoice with someone else’s bank details, and a rule that costs one call.
General contractor · payments -
Example
Example: a job at seven per cent margin, written into a decision card
A job at seven per cent margin: the decision in a card and a review in month two, while there is still room to renegotiate.
General contractor · margin
Engineering cases
How we built systems: hardware, code and data. For those who want to see how it works inside.
-
Real case
How we taught cameras to see a car park
A dataset shot from a car in 2014, our own detector for Belarusian plates, a Raspberry Pi at the barrier and a neural net that counts free spaces.
TPS Gate · video analytics
Other industries
Decisions made with clients in other industries. A case is published only with the client’s written consent.
-
Real case
E-bike rental: making a business manageable
The company described as it is, a system of record, and a contested decision settled in one meeting.
ERP and management decisions
Three more cases are waiting for the clients’ consent to publish.