See the ground your plan sits on.

A business’s operating plan shows work moving from request to commitment, planning, delivery and close, across Front office, Delivery and Back office.
Beneath the plan, the real ground is uneven. The documented route crosses a ridge and a river that the plan does not show.
From above, leadership reads four symptoms: commitments slip; effort exceeds plan; results depend on who does the work; fixed problems return.
On the ground, people use paths the plan does not show: a way round the documented crossing, a detour through one experienced person, a way round a recurring exception, and information carried across by hand.
ArcherKey finds: incomplete handoff. Work crosses here, not at the documented crossing. What the next team needs doesn’t make the trip. It feeds commitments slip and effort exceeds plan.
ArcherKey finds: concentrated judgment. Most work bends through one experienced person. The plan shows no stop here. It feeds results depend on who does the work and commitments slip.
ArcherKey finds: unplanned exception. A recurring case leaves the route. Each person finds their own way round. It feeds fixed problems return and results depend on who does the work.
ArcherKey finds: disconnected systems. The plan shows a crossing. There is no bridge, so information is carried across by hand. It feeds effort exceeds plan and fixed problems return.
Each condition feeds two symptoms, and none sits where its symptoms show.
Handoff defined where it happens. The crossing moves to where the work goes, and carries what the next team needs.
Judgment made shareable. The reasoning is recorded, and the paths open to others.
Exception given a route. The branch becomes part of the documented process.
Systems connected. The bridge goes in. Nothing is carried across by hand.
Each symptom settles only once both of the conditions feeding it have changed. The plan is redrawn from the ground as revision 5, and leadership can see the ground as well as the plan.