White papers
For anyone who's ever asked, "Why do we do that?"
We look at the weird, frustrating and sometimes completely absurd things that become normal inside organisations.
The processes nobody questions. The rules that made sense once. The workarounds everyone knows about. The invisible checklists that get in the way of people doing good work.
Then we ask: why do we do that?
Short papers. Real evidence. Better ways forward.
The Dashboard Blind
Spot
Why systems designed to protect vulnerable customers only see the people who ask for help
A 99% adoption rate and a 25% exclusion rate can both be true of the same institution at the same time, because they measure two entirely different populations. This paper tests that idea against banking regulation and a very public airline incident, and asks what changes once an institution accepts that its own success metric was never designed to see the people it fails.
Authors
Becky Hirst and Karen Cocks
The Portal
Toll
Why moving service behind a login screen shifts the admin onto the customer, and locks part of the community out completely
When an institution replaces a staffed channel with a self-service portal, the efficiency the business books is not the efficiency the customer experiences. This paper tests that idea against two ordinary transactions and the growing literature on administrative burden, and asks what an institution owes a customer once it has put them to work.
Authors
Becky Hirst and Karen Cocks
The Sterile
Border
A checkpoint engineered for reassurance, unaudited for risk
Passport control counts every traveller who clears the gate and every minute spent in the queue, but has no measure for whether the encounter detects risk or simply performs reassurance at a cost the airport is already paying. This paper tests whether the sterility of the checkpoint is evidence of stronger security, or a habit the industry has stopped questioning.
Authors
Becky Hirst and Karen Cocks
The Perpetual
Cycle
For creativity and burnout in high achieving neurodivergent women
Why the brilliance and the burnout are not two separate problems, and what six stages, checked against real research, say about the space between them: Ideas, Create, Impact, Push, Crash, Reset, then round again.
Authors
Becky Hirst and Karen Cocks
Get in touch
Want a briefing on this research?
Get in touch and we'll point you to the right person.
Make a white paper enquiry