Dive Deep

Operational excellence requires hands-on leadership with a passion for detail. We dig down to the smallest details to gain a full understanding, which equips us to empower the right people and deliver results. No task is beneath us.

Back to the universal principles

Calibration

Under, just right, over.

Situation	Under	Just Right	Over
A weekly status that is all green	Treats the green boxes as the update. Does not open a single item to see the work behind it.	Samples the two or three items that would hurt next week if they were false, traces those to the actual work, and leaves the rest once the sample holds.	Questions every line until the owner spends the next day rebuilding the status report instead of doing the work.
A teammate says they already checked	Accepts the assurance and never looks at the source they used.	Asks to see the source once, confirms the check was real, and then lets them own the next ones.	Rechecks their work in the room every time. They stop checking themselves because it will be redone anyway.
Approving a purchase	Signs because the amount looks familiar or the requester is trusted. Does not open the quote.	Reads the quote and the alternatives, asks the one or two questions that could change the decision, and then signs or sends it back.	Rebuilds the vendor comparison from scratch and holds the order. The team misses the window they needed the thing for.
A handoff between teams	Accepts the summary email and never opens the docs or code being handed over.	Reads the docs and code their team will need this week, names the gaps that would stall them, and then lets the handoff go.	Rewrites the other team's docs and code before accepting the handoff. Both teams wait on a cleanup that was not in the plan.
A launch checklist	Marks lines done from memory. Does not look at the test results or dashboards behind each item.	Verifies the few items that would hurt customers if they were false, then ships on the rest of the list.	Makes the team rerun every test and walk through every item on the list live, including ones already checked. The launch window closes while the team redoes work that was already finished.
A vendor claim	Repeats the vendor's number in the internal update. Does not compare it to our own records.	Checks the claim against a week of our own records, names any gap, and then decides whether to keep the vendor, push back, or drop them.	Starts an audit of the vendor's whole history before the next call. The renewal or the switch to a new vendor sits while the audit keeps growing.
A message asking for a quick approval	Replies yes without opening the attachment.	Opens the attachment, checks the part that cannot be undone, and answers the same day.	Holds the message overnight to reread the whole thread. The person who needed the approval misses their deadline.
A deadline that slipped	Takes the new date and does not look at what actually stalled.	Traces the slip to the real blocker, names it, and resets only what that blocker requires.	Audits the whole plan from the first task. The team spends the week explaining history instead of clearing the blocker.

Further reading

Sources and essays on this principle.

Coupang Leadership Principles
The published wording of this principle.
coupang.jobs