The Company Brain
What decisions have we made?
10 executive decisions, 15 approved changes, and 10 rejected proposals. The most recent are at the top. Every decision has a name, a date, and a reason.
Executive decisions (10)
Decision: pilot a 4-day workweek for office staff in Q4 2026
On 2026-06-30, the executive team decided to pilot a 4-day workweek (32 hours, same pay) for office staff in Q4 2026 (October-December). The decision was driven by 2 staff-survey results in the last 12 months (87% of office staff said they would value a 4-day week), the tight labor market, and a controlled pilot. The pilot will be evaluated at the end of Q4.
Decision: sunset the on-prem file server by 2026-12-31
On 2026-05-10, the executive team decided to sunset the on-prem file server by 2026-12-31 and migrate all file shares to Microsoft 365 SharePoint. The decision was driven by the file server's age (2012 hardware, unsupported since 2023), the maintenance cost ($24K/year in support contracts), and the 4 file-server outages in the last 12 months.
Decision: end the legacy cleaning product line (12 SKUs)
On 2026-04-22, the executive team decided to end the legacy 'Northwind Originals' cleaning product line (12 SKUs, $0.8M annual revenue, 4% of total). The decision was driven by declining volume (-18% YoY), 6 of the 12 SKUs being below the 0.5% margin threshold, and the manufacturing complexity (separate raw material, separate packaging). The line will be retired 2026-09-30.
Decision: open a Southeast territory in TN, KY, GA
On 2026-04-15, the executive team decided to open a 3-state Southeast territory. The decision was driven by 3 inbound distributor requests in TN and 2 in KY in the last 90 days, and the new ERP rollout that gives the operations team the bandwidth. Investment: $1.2M over 12 months for a regional sales manager, 2 AEs, and 1 SE. Target: $4M ARR by end of FY27.
Decision: raise the discount auto-approve limit from $200 to $500
On 2026-03-19, the VP of Sales (with CEO approval) decided to raise the discount auto-approve limit from $200 to $500. The decision was driven by a 6-month analysis of the review-queue load (62% of items were small, single-customer credits under $500) and the 14-day average approval time. The change saves an estimated 4 hours per week of review time.
Decision: replace the line-2 SCADA stack by end of Q3
On 2026-03-08, the executive team decided to replace the line-2 SCADA stack (currently Allen-Bradley MicroLogix 1500, end-of-life since 2024) by end of Q3 2026. The decision was driven by 2 production incidents in the last 6 months (the June 2025 line-2 outage, 6 hours; the February 2026 line-2 incident, 11 hours) and the risk of a third incident before year-end.
Decision: pursue ISO 9001:2015 certification by end of Q3
On 2026-02-22, the executive team decided to pursue ISO 9001:2015 certification by end of Q3 2026. The decision was driven by 4 distributor RFPs in the last 6 months that required ISO, and 1 lost deal (a $400K ARR opportunity with a national food distributor) where the lack of ISO was the deciding factor. Investment: $180K for a consultant, internal time, and audit fees.
Decision: standardize on PostgreSQL for all new internal systems
On 2025-12-12, the executive team decided that all new internal systems built or procured after 2026-01-01 must use PostgreSQL as the primary database. The decision was driven by the 4 different database technologies in use across the company (SQL Server, MySQL, Access, and a custom file-based system) and the operations cost of supporting all four. Existing systems are grandfathered.
Decision: bring IT security in-house (was contracted)
On 2025-11-04, the executive team decided to bring IT security in-house. The previous arrangement (Cybersecurity Partners Inc., $180K/year for 2 FTE equivalents) ended 2025-12-31. The new in-house security analyst (Roberto Silva) was hired 2026-01-08 at $98K. The decision saves $80K/year net.
Decision: end the regional sales manager role
On 2024-09-30, the executive team decided to end the regional sales manager role (last held by Marcus Reilly, who left 2024-08-15). The decision was driven by the flatten of the sales team and the fact that 4 of the 5 direct-report AEs were senior enough to not need a manager. The 5 AEs now report directly to the VP of Sales.
Approved changes (15)
Approved: hire 1 plant manager for line 3 (planned 2027)
On 2026-06-25, the executive team approved hiring 1 plant manager for the planned line-3 expansion in 2027. The hire will be recruited in Q4 2026, onboarded in Q1 2027, and will start running line 3 in Q2 2027. The cost is $140K/year plus benefits. The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by Bartosz Lewandowski.
Approved: change the expense system from Expensify to Ramp
On 2026-06-12, the executive team approved switching the expense system from Expensify ($14K/year, 60 users) to Ramp ($18K/year, unlimited users). The change was approved by Priya Ramaswamy, proposed by the finance AI, and will be implemented 2026-07-15. The change is expected to save 8 hours per week of finance team time and improve the audit trail.
Approved: add a 'quality hold' trigger to the MES
On 2026-06-08, the executive team approved adding an automatic quality hold trigger to the MES: any line that fails QC 3x in 24h goes to engineering. The change was approved by David Werner, proposed by the operations AI, and implemented 2026-06-15. The change is expected to reduce customer-impacting quality issues by 40%.
Approved: increase the entry-level line operator wage to $22/hour
On 2026-05-30, the executive team approved increasing the entry-level line operator wage from $19/hour to $22/hour, effective 2026-07-01. The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by HR, and is expected to reduce line-operator turnover from 28% to an estimated 18% annualized.
Approved: add Northwind as a sponsor of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Summit
On 2026-05-22, the executive team approved a $25K sponsorship of the Wisconsin Manufacturing Summit (October 2026). The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by the marketing team, and is expected to generate 40+ qualified leads and 4 RFP requests. The sponsorship includes a 10x10 booth, a speaking slot for the VP of Operations, and 4 attendee passes.
Approved: add a 'veteran' hiring preference to the recruiting policy
On 2026-05-15, the executive team approved adding a 'veteran' hiring preference to the recruiting policy: veterans are guaranteed an interview for any role they meet the minimum qualifications for. The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by the recruiter, and will be communicated to all hiring managers on 2026-08-01.
Approved: hire 1 senior accountant (Q3)
On 2026-05-08, the executive team approved hiring 1 senior accountant to support the Southeast expansion and the ISO certification work. The change was approved by Priya Ramaswamy, proposed by the controller, and the hire is expected to start 2026-08-15. The cost is $95K/year plus benefits.
Approved: end the line-2 manual logbook
On 2026-04-30, the plant manager approved ending the line-2 manual logbook (paper-based, in use since 1998) and moving to the MES (Manufacturing Execution System) for all line-2 shift logs. The change was approved by Esme Tanaka, proposed by the operations AI, and implemented on 2026-05-15. The change is expected to save 30 minutes per shift of operator time.
Approved: switch the line-1 shift schedule to 4x10s
On 2026-04-22, the executive team approved switching the line-1 shift schedule from 5x8s to 4x10s (4 days a week, 10 hours a day), effective 2026-06-01. The change was approved by David Werner, proposed by the plant manager, and is expected to improve retention (4x10s is the local-industry standard) and reduce shift handoff errors by 30%.
Approved: extend the customer support hours to 7 AM - 8 PM CT
On 2026-04-02, the executive team approved extending customer support hours from 8 AM - 5 PM CT to 7 AM - 8 PM CT. The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by the customer success manager, and implemented 2026-04-15. The change is expected to reduce churn from 4 distributors who cited 'limited support hours' as the top reason for considering alternatives.
Approved: add the 'Sales engineer' career path
On 2026-03-30, the executive team approved adding the 'Sales engineer' career path to the engineering ladder. The path is a 5-level ladder (Sales Engineer I, II, III, Senior, Principal) with compensation bands aligned to the engineering ladder. The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by the VP of Engineering, and implemented 2026-05-01.
Approved: end the Saturday half-day in operations
On 2026-03-22, the executive team approved ending the Saturday half-day in operations (in place since 2019, 8 AM - 12 PM Saturday for emergency calls). The change was approved by David Werner, proposed by Bartosz Lewandowski, and implemented 2026-04-01. The change is expected to save $30K/year in overtime and improve work-life balance.
Approved: switch the CRM from HubSpot to Salesforce
On 2026-02-18, the executive team approved switching the CRM from HubSpot ($36K/year) to Salesforce ($84K/year, 25 users). The change was approved by Margaret Chen, proposed by the VP of Sales, and will be implemented 2026-08-01. The change is expected to improve the integration with the new ERP and the distributor portal.
Approved: end the legacy 'paper' PO system
On 2026-01-25, the executive team approved ending the legacy paper-based PO system (in use since 1992) and migrating to the new ERP's PO module. The change was approved by David Werner, proposed by the procurement specialist, and implemented 2026-03-01. The change is expected to reduce the PO processing time from 4 days to 1 day.
Approved: raise the parental leave from 8 to 16 weeks
On 2025-11-22, the executive team approved raising the parental leave from 8 weeks (birthing parents) and 4 weeks (non-birthing parents) to 16 weeks for all caregivers, effective 2026-01-01. The change was approved by Margaret Chen, drafted by Lena Kowalski, and communicated to all employees on 2026-01-03. The change is expected to cost $120K/year in additional paid leave.
Rejected proposals (10)
Rejected proposals are not deleted — they are preserved in the log. The reason for the rejection is itself a record. This is how the company remembers what it considered and what it chose not to do.
Rejected: bring the legal function in-house
On 2026-05-30, the executive team rejected a proposal to bring the legal function in-house (currently contracted to Smith & Associates, $120K/year). The proposal was rejected because the legal workload is approximately 0.3 FTE, and the in-house cost is estimated at $180K/year, with the savings ($60K) not justifying the in-house hire.
Rejected: AI proposed: add a 'chatbot' to the customer support phone line
On 2026-05-22, the VP of Sales rejected a proposal from the customer service AI (Gemini) to add a chatbot to the customer support phone line. The proposal was rejected because (1) the customer demographic (B2B distributors, 40-60 year old procurement managers) has a strong preference for human support, (2) the survey result (89% of customers said 'I want to talk to a human') is unambiguous, and (3) the cost of an AI phone bot is not justified by the projected $14K/year savings.
Rejected: acquire a regional competitor
On 2026-05-10, the executive team rejected a proposal to acquire a regional competitor (CleanCo Midwest, $8M annual revenue, 32 employees). The proposal was rejected because the integration cost is estimated at $2.5M, the culture fit is unknown, and the executive team is focused on organic Southeast expansion, not M&A, in FY26.
Rejected: bring the cleaning service in-house
On 2026-04-12, the executive team rejected a proposal to bring the cleaning service in-house (currently contracted to CleanWorks Inc., $48K/year). The proposal was rejected because the cleaning workload is approximately 0.5 FTE, and the in-house cost is estimated at $32K/year plus benefits, with the savings not material ($16K) and the management overhead not justified.
Rejected: hire 1 marketing manager (Q3)
On 2026-04-08, the executive team rejected a proposal to hire 1 marketing manager in Q3 2026. The proposal was rejected because the marketing work is currently being absorbed by the sales team and Copilot, and the headcount growth is focused on operations, engineering, and sales for the Southeast expansion.
Rejected: add a 5th shift to line 1 (24-hour operation)
On 2026-03-22, the executive team rejected a proposal to add a 5th shift to line 1 (24-hour operation). The proposal was rejected because the 4-shift model has only been in effect for 2 months (since 2026-04-01), the operational stability of the 4-shift model has not been measured, and the 5th shift would require a second plant manager.
Rejected: move the headquarters to a new building
On 2026-03-15, the executive team rejected a proposal to move the headquarters from the current Madison campus to a new building in Sun Prairie. The proposal was rejected because the 2-year lease on the current campus is still in effect, the cost of the move ($1.4M) is not in the FY26 budget, and the Sun Prairie site requires $400K in buildout.
Rejected: end the legacy 'Northwind Originals' line 6 months early
On 2026-02-28, the executive team rejected a proposal to end the legacy 'Northwind Originals' line 6 months early (2026-03-31 instead of 2026-09-30). The proposal was rejected because 3 of the 12 SKUs are still profitable (margin above 5%) and 2 of the 12 SKUs are part of long-term contracts that run through 2026-09-30.
Rejected: end the on-site cafeteria
On 2026-02-12, the executive team rejected a proposal to end the on-site cafeteria (in operation since 2003, subsidized at $40K/year). The proposal was rejected because the cafeteria is a key retention tool (cited in 23% of exit interviews as 'a reason I stayed'), and the savings ($40K) is not material to the P&L.
Rejected: switch the ERP from Microsoft Dynamics to NetSuite
On 2026-01-20, the executive team rejected a proposal to switch the ERP from Microsoft Dynamics (the current system, in production since 2025-08-15) to NetSuite. The proposal was rejected because the migration cost is estimated at $1.8M, the go-live would be at least 18 months, and the current system is functioning at 92% of planned capacity.