I'm Pete Morrish. Aggressively systems-brained, unapologetically human-focussed.
Twenty-five years designing systems – games, pipelines, products, whole studios – taught me that organisations are just bunches of systems too. And when their hidden rules go wrong, it's generally actual humans who end up paying for it.
So I built a way to diagnose what might be hiding in plain sight, to help organisations protect their most valuable assets.
It's called House Rules.
The details change. The shape of the problem usually doesn't. But stuff like this doesn't have to be normal.
Good people rarely burn out overnight. The work keeps getting delivered, so nobody clocks what it's costing – until your strongest person suddenly isn't there.
Might show up as: strong numbers on paper, a team that's always "fine," and your best people quietly fading or heading for the door.
Feel familiar? Might be Hidden Burnout. Tap for a 60-second check →
Things run beautifully – because a handful of people hold it all together. Which is fine, right up until one of them leaves and a whole capability walks out the door with them.
Might show up as: no real cover when someone's off, critical knowledge living in single heads, and a quiet dread about what happens if the wrong person quits.
Feel familiar? Might be Hero Dependency. Tap for a 60-second check →
People used to flag problems. They watched it change nothing enough times, and quietly stopped. It's not apathy – it's the sensible response to not being heard.
Might show up as: silent meetings, no pushback on shaky plans, and problems you only hear about once they've already blown up.
Feel familiar? Might be Learned Helplessness. Tap for a 60-second check →
The status boards look green. But the picture inside the org has drifted from what's actually happening on the ground – and nobody can quite see behind the dashboard.
Might show up as: milestones that pass but don't quite land, surprises that 'came out of nowhere,' and a creeping sense the plan stopped reflecting reality a while back.
Feel familiar? Might be Delivery Theatre. Tap for a 60-second check →
Whether any of those four landed or not, you've already got the hang of the House Rules way: systems-level problems are common enough to need names – and naming them is the first step to noticing them, and then fixing them.
The full House Rules framework tests against more than two dozen Conditions, and I've never worked at a place that didn't have at least some of them. So the odds are you do too.
Check out the House Rules page for an introduction to the whole framework. Then, if you're brave enough, see where you land with a more comprehensive Self Check.
You bring the symptoms. House Rules finds the causes. Then I help you fix them.