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Crown Media Service · Internal tools

Eleven internal tools. All of them work — go and break one.

These are not screenshots and they are not prototypes. Drag a job across the shop wall and the bottleneck moves in front of you. Send a lift callback and the queue re-ranks. Type over a reorder quantity and the line tells you how many days of stock that buys. What you change stays changed while you look around, and a Reset puts it back.

Each one was built for a different business from a completed brief, and each of those businesses told us what not to build. Those answers are on the tiles, because the constraint is usually the most useful thing anybody said.

Open the toolsThe client sites

Download the blank tool briefPDF · 3 pages · fillable

Every business here is a fictional profile and every figure is sample data. Each tool says so in its own header rather than in a footnote — plausible operational numbers are exactly the kind that get mistaken for a record.

An internal tool has one job, and it is not to impress anybody.

The person opening it already works there, has seen the screen four hundred times, and came to do one thing. So there is no hero on any of these, no call to action, and nothing trying to persuade. What there is instead is the decision each one exists to get made, printed at the top, and the rule it sorts by printed where it applies — so the answer can be argued with rather than merely obeyed.

That last part is what makes them worth clicking through. Several of these refuse things. The payroll run will not let payroll mark a supervisor’s line fixed. The receivables ledger puts no chase button on retention, because it spends a whole panel arguing you should not ring about it. The marketplace review will take a budget figure only on the categories short of sellers. Those refusals are the difference between software that has an opinion and software that has a form.

Filter by what the tool decides
Filter by how the page is built

11 tools, and every one of them can be worked

  • Triage · Wall board

    BoardHalvorsen Lift Service

    Elevator and escalator maintenance · Duluth, Minnesota

    Try it

    Send any callback to any technician. The queue re-ranks, arrival times are printed against every name, and the board refuses an apprentice on their own or anybody off shift — and tells you which rule it used.

    The decision it gets made
    Which call does the next free technician take?
    Who opens it
    Dispatcher · Open all day, glanced at every few minutes

    What they told us not to do

    • No map. We know where the buildings are.
    • No photographs of lift interiors or machine rooms.
    • Nothing that measures the dispatcher or ranks the technicians.
    • No live-activity feed. Nobody reads it and it moves while I am reading something else.
    Open BoardThe brief, PDF

    The board · Who is on · Under contract

  • Review · Document

    TradeCommon Table Co-op

    Member-owned grocery, single store · Bloomington, Indiana

    Try it

    Drag the $750 discussion line and watch which departments walk into the meeting, then tick each one off as somebody accounts for it.

    The decision it gets made
    Which departments does Monday’s meeting actually spend its time on, and which ones does it leave alone?
    Who opens it
    General manager · Monday, 09:00, with eleven department heads in the room

    What they told us not to do

    • No per-person or per-till figures of any kind.
    • No pie chart of department mix. We have eleven departments and a table already shows it.
    • No 'top five' that always finds five.
    • No invented explanations in the reason column.
    Open TradeThe brief, PDF

    The week · Departments · Members

  • Decision · Worksheet

    Rate sheetKeyline Storage

    Self-storage, four facilities · Chattanooga, Tennessee

    Try it

    Decide every rate three ways — take the proposal, hold what is published, or type a third number — and see what the decided sheet is worth on the units standing empty.

    The decision it gets made
    Which unit sizes get an increase this month, and which sitting tenants get one?
    Who opens it
    Revenue manager · The 12th of the month, and defended at the end of it

    What they told us not to do

    • No tenant names, contact details, or payment history.
    • No photographs of the facilities.
    • No occupancy figure printed on its own.
    • No recommendation without its evidence in the same row.
    • No gauge with a green zone. I have never once been helped by a needle.
    Open Rate sheetThe brief, PDF

    This month · Facilities · Sitting tenants

  • Decision · Counter

    ReorderBellwether Hardware

    Independent hardware store · 9,400 SKUs · Astoria, Oregon

    Try it

    Change any order quantity and the line tells you the cover it buys once it lands. The order total moves against a normal Friday as you go.

    The decision it gets made
    What goes on Friday’s truck, and which lines do we stop carrying altogether?
    Who opens it
    Buyer · Thursday afternoon, walking the aisles with a phone

    What they told us not to do

    • No margin or profit figure anywhere on the reorder screens.
    • No name attached to a stock count.
    • Nothing that places an order. This is the argument for one.
    • No ranking by units sold — that is the sort we already have and it is wrong.
    • Nothing that needs two hands or a desk.
    Open ReorderThe brief, PDF

    Friday’s truck · Stop carrying · Count these

  • Triage · Wall of lanes

    WallFenwick Casework

    Architectural casework · nine on the floor · Lancaster, Pennsylvania

    Try it

    Drag a job into another stage, by pointer or from the keyboard, and watch the constraint move. Start a job the wall is deliberately refusing and see what it costs.

    The decision it gets made
    Which stage is the constraint this week, and what do we refuse to start because of it?
    Who opens it
    Shop manager · Stood in front of it at 06:50, and whenever a job moves

    What they told us not to do

    • No figure attributed to any individual, on any screen.
    • No traffic lights. Status carries a word or it does not carry.
    • No nominated bottleneck. It is derived or it is not trusted.
    • No card count without the hours beside it.
    • Nothing hidden behind a scroll that changes what we start today.
    Open WallThe brief, PDF

    The wall · Ageing · Committed hours

  • Review · Report with marginalia

    MarketRidgeway Reclaim

    Reclaimed building materials · 340 active sellers · Asheville, North Carolina

    Try it

    Put July's budget where you think it goes. Only the supply-short categories take a figure — the rest say why funding them makes things worse.

    The decision it gets made
    Which categories get acquisition money this month — and in each one, is it sellers we are short of or buyers?
    Who opens it
    Head of marketplace · First Tuesday, with the two acquisition budgets in front of her

    What they told us not to do

    • No individual seller named or ranked, on any screen.
    • No gross value as a headline or as a sort.
    • No sell-through measured against live listings.
    • No ratio quoted for a category under thirty listings.
    • No growth recommendation without the not-chasing list on the same tool.
    Open MarketThe brief, PDF

    The market · Sellers · Not chasing

  • Triage · Week grid

    BookNinth Street Rooms

    Rehearsal and tracking rooms · six rooms, hourly · Richmond, Virginia

    Try it

    Release a held hour or mark one rung. Releasing makes occupancy read lower, not higher, which is the arithmetic that keeps holds alive.

    The decision it gets made
    Which empty hours do we discount before they expire, and which ones stay empty on purpose?
    Who opens it
    Rooms manager · Every morning, and again about nine at night

    What they told us not to do

    • No discount percentage printed anywhere.
    • No figure for anybody working the desk.
    • No revenue target.
    • Held hours never counted inside an occupancy denominator.
    • Nothing that takes a second horizontal bar away from the grid.
    Open BookThe brief, PDF

    The week · Rooms · Held open

  • Decision · Numbered docket

    RunUnderwood Facilities Services

    Contract cleaning and facilities · 214 hourly staff, 40 sites · Toledo, Ohio

    Try it

    Answer every exception three ways, and find out that payroll may not mark most of them fixed. Chasing never unlocks the file.

    The decision it gets made
    What has to be resolved before the file locks at 16:00 Tuesday, and what gets paid exactly as it stands?
    Who opens it
    Payroll and office manager · Tuesday morning, once a week, against a deadline that does not move

    What they told us not to do

    • No figure describing any individual's performance, on any screen.
    • No default that reduces anybody's pay.
    • No “resolve” control for work this desk does not own.
    • No site ranked against another site.
    • No screen without the cut-off printed on it.
    Open RunThe brief, PDF

    Exceptions · Approvals · The run

  • Decision · Worksheet

    LedgerHalbrook Steel Fabrication

    Structural steel fabrication · 34 on the floor · Spokane, Washington

    Try it

    Work the call list. Three of the four sections carry no chase button at all, because this ledger argues you should not ring about them.

    The decision it gets made
    Which unpaid invoices do we chase this week, and which customer do we stop quoting for?
    Who opens it
    Controller · Monday, before the production meeting, and again on Thursday

    What they told us not to do

    • No ageing buckets anywhere.
    • No days-sales-outstanding, or any single figure covering all customers.
    • Nothing that sends a reminder. Every chase is a person.
    • Retention never inside an overdue figure.
    • No refusal without a stated way back.
    Open LedgerThe brief, PDF

    The ledger · Customers · Not quoting

  • Review · Document

    CommentThe Merrion

    Producing theatre · 340 seats, six shows a year · Louisville, Kentucky

    Try it

    Mark each theme answered or needing a decision, and build the agenda. Reopening something already refused brings the refusal with it.

    The decision it gets made
    What do we change before the next run, and what are we deliberately not changing?
    Who opens it
    General manager · Second Tuesday, with production and front of house in the room

    What they told us not to do

    • No score, index, star rating or sentiment figure, anywhere.
    • No comment attributed to a named person, and no form linked to a booking.
    • No reweighting of counts to correct for who answered.
    • No quote edited for tone.
    • No ordering by volume.
    Open CommentThe brief, PDF

    The comments · Who answered · Not changing

  • Triage · Counter

    DeskQuillen Machinery

    Farm equipment dealer · service and parts, three branches · Grand Island, Nebraska

    Try it

    Put jobs on today's run and the day adds itself up — drive, bench time, acres covered. It will tell you when the day is full.

    The decision it gets made
    Which machines get somebody today, and which fault do we stop treating one call at a time?
    Who opens it
    Service manager · Six in the morning, and every time the counter phone goes

    What they told us not to do

    • No figure for any individual technician.
    • No time-to-close as a headline figure.
    • No automatic assignment of a job to a person.
    • No ordering by when the call came in.
    • Nothing that needs two hands or a desk.
    Open DeskThe brief, PDF

    The desk · Recurring · What we do not promise

Six things we will hold to on your tool as well.

None of these came out of a style guide. Eleven operators in eleven unrelated trades independently described the same ways an internal screen loses their trust, and these are the answers.

No number without something to compare it to
“142 calls” is not information; “142, against 118 the same week last year” is. The component that draws a figure requires the comparison, so a bare number will not compile — which is cheaper than catching it in review every time.
The rule is printed where it applies
Each of these sorts or recommends by something: the dispatch priority order, the $750 discussion line, the five tests before a sitting tenant’s rent moves. All printed on the screen. On the trade review you can drag that line and watch who walks into the meeting — which is what “argue with it” should mean.
Freshness and provenance are part of the furniture
Every screen states when its figures are true and what they were refreshed from. A static snapshot presented honestly beats a page that looks live and is ten minutes stale.
Status always carries a word
Never colour alone. Colour only decides how loudly something is drawn, so these survive a colour vision deficiency, a forced-colours mode, and a dim room at a bad angle.
Every tool can say no
A reorder list only ever asks “will this run out”, so a dead line survives for ever — that is why there is a stop-carrying screen beside it. Limits that never cost anything are decoration. If a screen only ever says yes, the half that says no is missing.
What you will not find
No donut charts, no gauges with a green zone, no dual-axis plots, no tile with a green arrow and nothing to compare against, no rail of unnameable icons, and no chart starting somewhere other than zero without saying so.