You know why that customer gets the discount. Your team doesn't.
Martin CablePublished on: 10/07/2026
Your team can't apply a rule that only exists in your head. This week's fix: write the pricing exception down and remove yourself from the loop.
Insights Library
Practical thinking on
Practical thinking on
operational risk
Straightforward writing on the patterns that hold scaling businesses back, and how to address them. Based on real work with UK tech, manufacturing and service businesses.
Most operational risk is not obvious until it starts slowing the business down. These articles cover the patterns that show up most often across growing businesses, and what can be done about them.
The operational risk framework these articles draw on. Explore any risk in detail →
Martin Cable
Repeat It, Systemise It
Martin CablePublished on: 09/07/2026
If you do the same task three times a month and it is still in your head, the problem is not your memory. It is that the task is not systemised.
Where Work Goes to Die in a Growing Factory
Martin CablePublished on: 08/07/2026
Work disappearing between people and stages is a handoff design problem. Where flow and handoff risk builds in a growing factory, and how to fix it.
Onboarding Is a System, Not a Hope
Martin CablePublished on: 08/07/2026
Slow time to productive new hires is not a people problem. It is an onboarding system problem. Here is the smallest fix that works.
Undefined Processes Fail People, Not the Other Way Around
Martin CablePublished on: 07/07/2026
When the same person keeps getting blamed for the same mistake, the problem is rarely the person. It is that the process was never defined.
A Business Grows. A System Scales.
Martin CablePublished on: 06/07/2026
Growth adds revenue. Scaling adds output without adding dependency. The difference is whether systems carry the load or the founder does.
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