Lesson 7 · 20 min
With the matrix in place, Hora handles the routine on her own and sends Patrícia whatever is not routine. That creates a new job that no manager's job description had: the exception queue. In this lesson you work that queue in a simulation and leave with the daily and weekly routine of someone who supervises agents.
Start the lesson
Goal: work the exception queue: approve, send back or stop each case with a reason, an owner and a deadline, in a daily and weekly routine.
No exception goes without an owner. Tap each step.
Normal, doubtful and critical cases; exception package and supervision rituals: Gestoria method (INEMA).
Simulated conversation for practice. Hora brings the day's exceptions; you decide each one. The comment appears right after.
Choose your answer. The comment appears right after, and the conversation goes on according to your choice.
The simulation is one late afternoon. These are the four pieces that make the queue work every day.
Insufficient or conflicting data goes back to whoever can complete it (the agent, with the customer, or Juliana). A request outside the policy goes to whoever has the authority limit (Patrícia, or Carlos above her). A critical case goes to a defined person and can halt the operation.
The destination of each type is written in the constitution. An exception that needs a meeting to find out whose it is has already arrived late.
Missing data → send back to the customer through Hora, with a deadline. Outside the policy → Patrícia (up to 10%) or Carlos. Manipulation or data leaking out → stop, Patrícia and Rafael.
An approval request without evidence shifts the work of investigating onto you. The agent brings the package: case, pending action with the exact content, reason, evidence, what it already tried, the rule involved and a recommendation.
An incomplete package is sent back to the agent, not completed by you. Within two weeks, the packages arrive whole.
Can you decide by reading only the package, without opening the whole conversation? If not, the package is incomplete.
Stopping is different from sending back: there is risk, so the case (or the whole agent, on the off switch) leaves normal operation until someone understands what happened.
The script fits in four lines: stop, contain (confirm through a known channel, undo what you can), log the incident and look for similar cases. Afterward, the cause becomes a test case.
Stop the order. Call the buyer at the phone number on file. Log the incident. Scan this week's conversations for similar text.
The queue has a cost too: how long each case waits and how many minutes a day you spend deciding. If the queue grows, either the matrix is too tight or the agent is escalating without a package.
These numbers feed the cost per result in lesson 2 and the decision to promote in lesson 5. Supervision that nobody measures becomes the manager's invisible overtime.
First week: 9 exceptions a day, 40 minutes of Patrícia's time, average wait of 2 h. Third week: 3 a day, 15 minutes, wait of 40 minutes.
The package the agent brings, the record of your decision, and the supervision routine.
EXCEPTION PACKAGE · case <id> · <date and time> Agent: <name> · version: <v> · process: <...> TYPE: [ ] doubtful (data) [ ] outside policy [ ] critical PENDING ACTION (exact content): <what would be done, with values> WHY IT IS IN THE QUEUE: <rule or limit that blocked it> EVIDENCE: <conversation, record, document, log> ALREADY TRIED: <what the agent did before escalating> AGENT RECOMMENDATION (within its limits): <...> DEADLINE TO DECIDE: <...> · OWNER: <name> HUMAN DECISION [ ] APPROVE this content, valid until <deadline> [ ] SEND BACK: missing <what> · to <whom> · by <deadline> [ ] STOP: risk <which> · containment <what was done> · notified <whom> JUSTIFICATION (rule or reason): <...> Decided by: <name> · <date and time> PROPOSED LEARNING: <new test case / line in the matrix / sentence in the constitution>
SUPERVISION ROUTINE · <process> · owner: <name> · backup: <name> DAILY (15 min, fixed time: <hh:mm>) [ ] Exception queue: does everything have an owner and a deadline? anything critical stuck? [ ] Critical errors today: were there any? already logged as an incident? [ ] Stopped operations: any waiting for a decision? [ ] Budget: today's spend within what you expected? [ ] Note: number of exceptions, minutes spent, longest wait WEEKLY (45 min, <day>) 1. Did the result improve against a comparable baseline? 2. Did quality, critical errors and exceptions change? Which causes keep repeating? 3. How much human work was needed and where (supervision minutes)? 4. What was the full cost, including retries and rework? 5. Which action needs less autonomy, or a pause? 6. Which action has evidence to be promoted (checklist from lesson 5)? 7. What learning becomes a test case, a line in the matrix or a sentence in the constitution? 8. Who owns each action and when will it be reviewed? PER CHANGE (model, tool, constitution, matrix) [ ] Test cases run before it goes in [ ] Affected actions go back to yellow until there is new evidence [ ] Change log: what, who approved, when, how to reverse it
Train on Patrícia's queue; then build your own routine and measure it for a week.
Run this lesson's simulation. If you don't reach the top score, read the comments, start over and try again.
Done when: you finished the simulation with the top score and can say, for each of the three cases, which verb you used and why.
Fill in an exception package with the decision for each case in the simulation: the hotel's order with the hidden instruction, Seu Antônio's 15% discount, and the customer without a CNPJ. In the justification, cite the rule from the matrix or the constitution that decided it.
Done when: you have three packages, each with a different verb (stop, approve with a reason, send back), the rule cited, the next step with a deadline and a proposed learning.
Copy the supervision routine and adapt it to your process: fixed time, backup and the items that make sense. Run the daily routine for a week, noting the number of exceptions, minutes spent and longest wait. Close the week with the 8 questions.
Done when: the routine is written with an owner and a backup, 5 days are logged with exceptions, minutes and wait, and the weekly review answered the 8 questions with at least one decision.
5 questions. The explanation appears after your attempt.
Question 1 of 5
What is the difference between sending back and stopping?
Question 2 of 5
Hora only asks, "approve order 4471?" What do you do?
Question 3 of 5
Seu Antônio asks for 15%; Hora's authority limit is 5% and yours is 10%. Which decision is best?
Question 4 of 5
Why sort the queue by risk and deadline, and not by order of arrival?
Question 5 of 5
Patrícia's queue went from 3 to 12 exceptions a day. What might this indicate?
Pick an answer. The explanation shows up after you try.