Administrators walked from desk to desk reminding people to submit their timesheets.
Back to my work
My Journey Chapter Four
The Idea Behind TERA
Every organization has problems that people assume are simply part of the job.
Sometimes they aren't.
One lesson I've carried with me
When talented people repeatedly struggle with the same process...
The problem usually isn't the people.
It's the system around them.
Years ago, in the advertising industry
I saw that lesson play out every Monday morning.
Advertising agencies are unique businesses. They don't manufacture products. Their product is the time, creativity, and expertise of their people.
DesignersCopywritersDevelopersStrategistsAccount teamsProducersSpecialists
Labor costsClient billingProfitabilityForecastingStaffingExecutive reporting
Accurate timesheets weren't just administrative paperwork.
They were one of the financial foundations of the business.
Yet every week
The same cycle repeated itself.
Another round of follow-up emails went out.
The department was pulled into temporarily disabling network accounts until finance confirmed completion.
The frustrating part
Nobody enjoyed the process.
Finance didn't want to spend Monday mornings chasing employees.
Managers had far more important things to do.
IT certainly didn't want to become the department responsible for locking people out of their computers.
Everyone involved was trying to solve the problem.
They were simply solving it the only way they knew how.
One evening, I kept thinking about
Hotels.
Whenever you connect to hotel Wi-Fi, you aren't immediately given internet access.
Instead, you're gently guided through one simple step before continuing.
01
Connect
02
One simple step
03
Continue
The system doesn't argue with you.
It doesn't shame you.
It simply makes the required action the next logical step.
That idea stayed with me
“What if software could guide people toward the right behavior?”
Instead of relying on reminders, frustration, and manual intervention.
A simple question became a project
Timesheet Entry Requirement Application.
We eventually named it TERA.
Like many internal platforms we built, it had its own identity inside the company. It wasn't just another utility. It became part of how the business operated.
Well over a decade ago
This was long before today's development landscape existed.
No AI coding assistantsNo modern cloud toolingNo current development frameworks
Everything had to be researched, architected, engineered, tested, and deployed by hand.
2years of engineering
Deep inside the infrastructure
TERA quietly sat between employees and the internet itself.
Because it operated so closely with the company's network infrastructure, I had to be extraordinarily careful.
The platform became deeply integrated into the network architecture, authentication systems, deployment infrastructure, and desktop environment across multiple offices.
Thousands of employees
Authentication
Deployment
Desktop environment
TERAHuman-centered control point
Internet access
It wasn't software we could afford to get wrong.
A mistake could have prevented thousands of people from doing their jobs.
That responsibility forced me to think differently
The real challenge was acceptance
The technology itself
wasn't the challenge.
Designing something
people would willingly accept was.
When TERA finally launched
The experience was intentionally simple.
Employees who still had an outstanding timesheet were gently redirected before continuing with normal internet access.
The moment the requirement was satisfied, everything immediately returned to normal.
- 01Continue working
- 02Complete one required action
- 03Return to normal immediately
No phone callsNo emailsNo manual account changesNo walking the halls
The process simply became part of the natural rhythm of the workday.
The results exceeded everyone's expectations
Nearly complete weekly compliance, almost immediately.
Received timely labor information for client billing.
Got their Monday mornings back.
Was no longer caught between departments.
Looking back
What I'm proudest of isn't the technology.
It's the lesson.
Organizations rarely improve because people suddenly become more disciplined.
They improve because someone is willing to redesign the system around them.
That lesson has stayed with me
Across every kind of problem.
Executive financial performance
Commercial workflows
Enterprise platforms
AI-powered products
Client advisory
Whether I'm helping executives understand financial performance, improving commercial workflows, designing enterprise platforms, building AI-powered products, or advising clients today, I almost always begin with the same question.
I almost always begin here
“What behavior are we trying to encourage?”
Because once you understand that, technology stops being the solution.
It becomes the tool that quietly helps people succeed.