Verify Present Cost
A brief overview to identify what sustains the operation today
Los sistemas se entienden observando lo que ocurre con frecuencia
Observar lo que ocurre con frecuencia permite detectar patrones que normalmente pasan desapercibidos.
Lo urgente y los problemas inesperados
Lo que se repite de forma constante
Lo que se observa dentro del sistema
En muchas organizaciones la atención se dirige a los problemas más urgentes del momento.
Las dinámicas que más influyen en un sistema suelen ser las situaciones que se repiten con el tiempo.
Este ejercicio te invita a observar esas situaciones recurrentes para identificar patrones en tu organización.
Conditions for accurate observation
Three agreements for observing the system.
Mark only two situations that occur most frequently.
The ones that most resemble a typical week.
Observe it as one of the forms of organization within the system.
Not as an individual judgment.
Share it only if there is consent.
Outside the appropriate context, it could be interpreted differently and mistakenly.
When you accept these agreements, the exercise is enabled.
What part of the system
is maintaining stability?
Think about what is repeated: emergencies, rework, dependencies, friction between areas, overtime.
System situations
What happens week after week when the system operates in its daily routine.
If certain people aren’t there, important things simply don’t move forward.
Hard decisions get postponed to avoid friction or internal conflict.
Friction between areas is already normal; it’s assumed as part of the job.
People with initiative became cautious—or stopped proposing.
Everything feels urgent, but what matters almost never fully closes.
The real workload doesn’t match roles or the org chart.
For the system to work, someone always ends up absorbing the extra effort.
More things get done to sustain the day-to-day, but not to solve what causes it.
You can only select 2 events
Select only 2. The most frequent, not the most serious
When it can be described in facts, the cost becomes visible
Describe it in facts
These two situations are the gateway. It's time to turn them into concrete facts.
Escena 1
Escena 2
What stops getting done when these situations arise in the operation?
What is keeping the operation running today?
Before continuing: Please provide brief evidence in both fields.
f you can't write it down in facts, don't contrast it yet; observe again for a week.
A fact is anything that can be observed, such as a date, an event, a wait, overtime, or a returned delivery.
The cost becomes difficult to see when stability depends on human overexertion
What you wrote:
Based on what you wrote, a cost that is already occurring appears here.
If any question feels difficult to answer, that might be a clue. If your answer points to a person, go back to the system.
We are looking for patterns, not culprits.
This isn't closed here. A human review is recommended to clarify details.
Clarifying the review
A human review seeks clarity. It helps confirm if the cost is real and where it is accumulating.
Live verification is recommended when there is a willingness to examine the system, not to find culprits.
Confidentiality and context are respected.
The conversation begins with observation, not by imposing answers.