// Implementation period: 11–16 August 2026

Replace the chasing.
Not the judgment.

A controlled one-week operating-model reset for Tanya, Reza, Kirsten, and Iwert. Routine work is standardised, captured, and assisted by AI; relationships, verification, physical execution, and high-risk decisions remain visibly human-owned.

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Outcome by Sunday evening: one task system, verified daily cadence, explicit approval rights, and a quality gate before any workflow acts without review.
// Effective immediately

Six operating rules

The team is not being asked to add admin. It is being asked to make ownership, urgency, proof, and escalation visible once—rather than forcing Iwert to reconstruct it repeatedly.

Rule 01

One task, one owner, one deadline

Every actionable instruction is logged in ClickUp with the next action. WhatsApp is for urgent coordination—not the record of completion.

Rule 02

AI prepares; people approve

AI can draft, classify, summarise, route, and remind. High-risk decisions retain an explicit human approval gate.

Rule 03

Acknowledgement is not completion

“Noted” is not enough. The owner records the action, deadline, and evidence when it is finished.

Rule 04

Evidence closes a task

A link, confirmation, photo, sent-email reference, invoice reference, or concise proof note is required to close work.

Rule 05

Escalate before a deadline fails

Blocked, unclear, sensitive, legal, budget, and access issues are raised the same day with options and a recommendation.

Rule 06

No shadow systems

ClickUp holds tasks, shared folders hold records, Calendar holds appointments, and WhatsApp carries urgent coordination only.

// Exact rollout sequence

Six days to a working system

Each day has a narrow pilot, an accountable owner, and a measurable acceptance test. No workflow progresses from test to active merely because it was built.

Tuesday 11 AugReset

Set rules, build the Command Queue, capture open work, appoint approval owners.

Pass: every live item has an owner and next action.
Wednesday 12 AugTanya pilot

Property register, invoice control register, and 14-day legal-calendar reconciliation.

Pass: 10 invoice + 10 calendar QA sample.
Thursday 13 AugReza pilot

WhatsApp-to-task discipline, daily logistics board, and blocked-task escalation format.

Pass: 10-task capture test ≥90% accurate.
Friday 14 AugKirsten pilot

NL queue, EA pipeline, executive inbox routing, and cold-follow-up recovery.

Pass: 20-email routing test ≥90% accurate.
Saturday 15 AugQuality test

Audit random tasks, emails, calendars, invoices; test wrong owner, duplicate invoice, and sensitive email cases.

Pass: failures documented, corrected, and re-tested.
Sunday 16 AugExecutive review

Decide which workflows activate, pause, or change; set Week 2 role mandates.

Pass: written operating model for Week 2.
// Decision rights

What may run automatically—and what must not

AreaAI may prepareApproval required before actionDefault approver
Legal & disputesExtract dates, summarise correspondence, create reminders, draft issue list.Legal positions, filings, settlement, counsel instructions, signatures.Iwert / authorised lawyer
Payments & invoicesExtract fields, flag missing evidence or duplicates, prepare payment queue.Payment release, beneficiary changes, payment-plan commitments.Iwert
Hiring & staffScreen against approved criteria, track candidates, draft communications.Offer, rejection, termination, salary agreement, background-check decision.Iwert
Property & contractorsLog defects, prepare comparison, schedule inspection, chase quotation.Scope change, contractor appointment, spend above delegation, work acceptance.Iwert / defined delegation
External communicationDraft, classify, flag urgency, create briefing.Legal, financial, employment, sensitive social, or commitment-creating messages.Iwert / designated sender
// Role-specific operating model

What changes for each person

Tanya

PROPERTY · INVOICES · LEGAL LOGISTICS
  • Validate the property and invoice registers daily.
  • Verify source documents before a payment reaches approval.
  • Confirm legal calendar data against the original communication.
  • Escalate scope, budget, access, and legal exceptions on the same day.

Reza

CAPE TOWN OPERATIONS · PHYSICAL EXECUTION
  • Turn every actionable instruction into a task within 15 minutes.
  • Own physical execution and attach evidence when complete.
  • Use the logistics board for routing and dependencies.
  • Escalate blockers with options, cost/time impact, and recommendation.

Kirsten

NL OPERATIONS · EXECUTIVE INBOX · EA PIPELINE
  • Keep every key NL, banking/tax, and agency thread dated with a next action.
  • Validate inbox classifications and route only genuine decisions upward.
  • Maintain the EA pipeline and recover any cold agency follow-up.
  • Use AI drafts; retain relationship judgment and discretion.

Iwert

PRIORITIES · EXCEPTIONS · HIGH-STAKES DECISIONS
  • Read the 07:30 morning brief and resolve only real exceptions.
  • Approve protected actions, not routine coordination.
  • Decline to manage task detail by WhatsApp—return it to the queue.
  • Use the Sunday review to decide what earns more autonomy.
// Daily cadence from 17 August

One rhythm. One source of truth.

DAILY OPERATING CADENCE
07:30Morning Command Brief—calendar, priority emails, overdue work.
08:30Owners confirm top three priorities and surface immediate blockers.
12:30Exception digest only when a defined trigger is met.
16:30Owners attach evidence and correct draft completion summaries.
17:00Five-field report: completed, in progress, blocked, decision needed, tomorrow’s top three.
// Quality gates

How the system earns trust

MetricWeek 1 thresholdWeek 2 thresholdAccountable role
Tasks with owner, deadline, and next action95%100%Reza / task creator
Tasks closed with evidence80%95%Each task owner
Instruction captured within 15 minutes85%95%Reza / Kirsten
Invoice fields verified before approval90%100%Tanya
Calendar accuracy for the next 14 days95%100%Tanya / Kirsten
AI routing or draft accuracy in sample audits≥90%≥95%Iwert reviewer
Immediate pause condition: pause the affected flow and revert to manual review if a sensitive item is misrouted, a payment/legal item is incorrectly classified, a task closes without evidence, confidential information reaches the wrong channel, or an automation acts externally without its approval gate.
// Sunday decision sheet

Fifteen minutes to keep, improve, or stop

Keep

What saved time?

Identify the three workflows that demonstrably removed repeated work or prevented a missed follow-up.

Improve

What created noise?

List any inaccurate draft, misclassification, missing data source, or unclear owner. Fix prompts and templates before expanding scope.

Stop

What is unsafe?

Disable anything that acts beyond its approval boundary or cannot explain its own decision path clearly.