Our approach
Your team is capable of more than your systems allow.
The drag you feel is hidden decision friction.
We find it. We clear it.
You get more done, with less stress.
Led personally by Conan Magill — former Fonterra programme manager, Manta5 COO, strategy lead at Waipā and performance advisor at Waikato District Council. MBA, BE (Hons).
Decision friction
So why does it feel stuck?
Because lean processes + high quality ≠ frictionless.
Each part works fine alone.
Together, the system no longer works for the humans who live in it.
It has a name: decision friction.
decision friction
/dɪˈsɪʒ.ən ˈfrɪk.ʃən/nounThe resistance a system puts in the way of arriving at a decision.
“The outcome was needed by next Tuesday; decision friction dragged it out to March.”
The model
Nothing’s broken. It’s just out of alignment.
A targeted adjustment to the areas causing drag — not a wholesale transformation.
Like a physio helping the body heal itself, we work with your existing systems and bring them back into balance — finding exactly where policy, process or performance have drifted apart, then letting your team’s full potential do the rest.
Most improvement sharpens the process. This works a level deeper.
Lean and Agile optimise the steps. This works on what sits beneath them — how your systems shape the decisions people make, which is what decides whether they can act at all.
Lean / Agile
- Sharpens each step — within its own silo
- Focuses measures on cycle time and sprint cadence
- Locks in the one best way
- A discipline the team has to keep sustaining
Decision Velocity
- Aligns the silos to pull the same way
- Focuses measures on what the customer cares about
- Restores judgement within clear guard rails
- A targeted correction that holds on its own
Why friction happens
Nobody designed it. And nothing corrects it.
We improve how your systems shape the decisions people make — taking you from Functional to Frictionless.
Humans misjudge risk in consistent, predictable ways. One memorable failure outweighs a hundred quiet successes — so our response is usually disproportionate to the risk.
Quality control is essential hygiene for any organisation to function. It’s the additional steps beyond that baseline that need careful consideration.
Find the points in your system that exacerbate decision friction — and align them. Strengthen the feedback loop so you capture Return on Effort.
The path
Where, what and how
Three stages, each with a clear stop point. You take the work in-house, or stop, whenever it makes sense to.
Friction Factor survey
Twenty questions produce your Friction Factor — showing what shape your systems are in, and where the drag is worst.
Decision Friction Healthcheck
A focused, low-cost diagnostic: where the friction lives across your policies, process and performance, and an indicative read on what it's costing you.
Targeted realignment
If it's worth pursuing, we scope the hands-on work to put it right — at a scope you control. A precise adjustment, not a wholesale transformation.