From insight to clarity · 90 minutes
Rule Inventory
Ten rules, ninety minutes. Which of your checks still pay off? At the end, each rule has one of five options settled, and there's a name for who may reinstate a rule you've dropped.
At a glance
- What it is
- The Rule Inventory is a ninety-minute session in which your leadership team goes through ten checking and approval rules and settles one of five options for each, from keeping it with a reason to dropping it. For every rule you drop, it's settled who may reinstate it.
- You get
- ten completed lines with one option per rule, and a name with a date for the route by which a dropped rule gets reinstated.
- Your effort
- Three to eight people bring ten rules between them that they think are out of date. For each rule they look up beforehand how often this check found something in the last quarter. An estimate is enough. Add the ninety-minute session and, three months later, a short follow-up measurement you do yourselves.
- Duration
- one session, online or, in German-speaking countries, at your premises.
- Price
- €900 online and €1,400 on site in German-speaking countries, plus VAT where it applies.
- Exit
- The Rule Inventory is a single session. Whether you keep using the method is up to you after the follow-up measurement.
What it's about
Many leadership teams know that too much gets approved and countersigned. And most meetings that talk about it end with a new rule.
It's rarely a lack of will. Abolishing a rule feels riskier than introducing a new one, as long as nobody has settled who may reinstate it if something goes wrong. The Rule Inventory settles exactly that before the first rule goes.
Behind every rule there's a promise: this gets checked. We first ask one simple question to see whether that pays off: did this check find anything last quarter? The answer is a reason to look closer and not yet a verdict. A fire safety inspection can find nothing a hundred times and still be needed.
So before anything is dropped, we clarify who adopted the rule, what it protects and how expensive the rare error would be that someone finds there. A dropped rule can be reinstated, but that won't undo damage that has already happened. Some structure that slows you down in one place helps in another.
Every rule you drop gives your people working time back. Cases that wait for three signatures today often get by with one afterwards.
What one approval costs you per year
Take an approval that comes up regularly in your company, such as quotes above a certain amount, purchase orders or travel expenses. The calculation takes a minute, and your figures stay in your browser.
Add to that the time the work spends waiting for the approval.
If nobody changes anything in most cases, the Rule Inventory is worth it. In ninety minutes we go through ten rules like this one. Before we start, we settle who may reinstate a dropped rule.
Bring your figure to the Clarity Call.
If this one approval already costs €10,000 a year or more, a close look at all the checks in your company pays off. That's what the Rule Assessment is for.
The calculation covers twelve months. Hours are rounded to whole numbers, euros to tens or hundreds. The total shows tied-up working time. It only becomes money when overtime or outside services go away or the time is demonstrably needed elsewhere. Switching costs and replacement checks aren't included.
How it works
- Beforehand. Three to eight people bring ten rules between them that they think are out of date. For each rule they look up beforehand how often this check found something in the last quarter. An estimate is enough.
- At the start. The group settles who may reinstate a dropped rule.
- In the session. The ten rules go through the same grid. What does the rule promise? Who keeps the promise? Did the check find anything last quarter? What does it protect, and how expensive would the rare error be that someone finds there? Which of five options fits: keep it with a reason, check only in certain cases, build it into the software, drop signature and record while the work stays, or drop the rule?
- At the end. The group sets the date for the follow-up measurement. You get the completed session sheet the same day.
The session takes ninety minutes, online or, in German-speaking countries, at your premises.
What you have in hand at the end
- Your completed session sheet with ten lines and one option per rule.
- A name with a date for the route by which a dropped rule gets reinstated.
- A follow-up measurement after three months. You do it yourselves, and it shows whether anything has changed since. The template comes with the sheet.
Prices
On site: €1,400 (German-speaking countries only)
The AI Inventory costs from €1,400. You'll find its prices in its own section.
All prices plus VAT where it applies. On site, travel costs come on top, charged at second-class rail fares.
What this format can't do
Ninety minutes won't slim down an organization. They show whether the method works in your company.
We leave rules alone that the law, occupational safety or the safety of customers and clients depend on. Where a works council has co-determination rights, the session only prepares a decision.
AI Inventory
In many companies AI works in more processes than management ever decided on. So the AI Inventory starts from the programs your people actually work with and clarifies for each one which rule applies today and who is responsible for it.
We look at three kinds of AI. The first you introduced yourselves, such as an assistant with a company license. The second your people use on their own initiative, with private accounts or tools they built. The third came with updates into programs you've had for years, from office software to HR software.
- Beforehand. Your IT provides the list of programs. A short anonymous survey shows which AI services your people use and which tools they've built themselves, including spreadsheets and macros without AI. It's only evaluated once there are at least five answers, so that no answer can be traced back to a person.
- In the session. The group adds to the list. Nobody gets into trouble for naming a tool of their own. For every home-made tool the group first asks what it can do that the official program can't. For each program you clarify its purpose, who is responsible for it, who checks its results with how much time, what limits apply and when something can no longer be undone. Three more questions apply to every program. Who does it affect without asking them? Does it monitor people? Does it present itself as a human?
- Hands on. On two or three programs the group tries out what a rule means in daily work. Does anyone really look at the result? Does the program say what it bases its output on? Can you count how often someone changes a result?
You get an AI list with these three kinds, an overview of your rules with the gaps, and a ranking of the five programs you should clarify first. You also get a completed briefing for one of your AI assistants, based on the Bonn Charter template (in German).
Three to eight people take part, ideally from IT, HR and two business units, and your works council too if you like. I facilitate and record the results. I don't assess the results of your programs. Whether your rules are legally sufficient is for your lawyer to judge.
Full day for 50 to 149 employees: €2,900
From 150 employees, scoped to fit
Online, or on site in German-speaking countries. On site, add €500 plus travel costs. If you start an annual mandate afterwards, I credit the full amount, because the first steps of the mandate are then already done. All prices plus VAT where it applies.
Where the method comes from
The method comes from a workbook on rules under AI that I'm writing now. The free white paper “What AI Tests in Your Rules” explains why every rule is a promise to check and what that costs under AI.
Next step
You can request the Rule Inventory directly or start with a Clarity Call. There we find out whether ten rules are the right place for you to start.
Request the Rule Inventory
Tell me briefly which rules you want to go through and when suits you. I'll get back to you personally within 24 hours with suggested dates. The request doesn't commit you to anything.