Field notes from the operator track.

The ISM Prices Index for April 2026 registered 84.6 percent, the highest reading since April 2022. Manufacturing is expanding, but input costs are spiking and supplier lead times are stretching. The operators who will not feel this in their cash flow are the ones who already know their numbers.

Most small operators run on $500 to $3,000/month of SaaS that compounds with every new hire. Here is exactly what we replaced, line by line, to run Obsidian Axis Group on $74/month.

A typical $10M to $50M operator carries 30 to 40% operational waste. The first 90 days of an Axis Method engagement cut waste through removal, not addition. Here is what gets cut, and why.

Three numbers come out of the Diagnose phase of every Operations Architect (fractional COO) engagement. Most operators see them once and never know what to do with them. This is how to read each one, and what each implies for the next 90 days.

Most LMM teams stop at Norming and the leadership thinks that is success. It is not. This is how Tuckman's stages and Edmondson's 2x2 of safety and accountability combine in a 90-day operating-discipline install.

DMAIC, SIPOC, Black Belts, control charts, kaizen events. At enterprise scale these earn their cost. At $10M to $100M, most of the methodology is overhead. Here is what to keep, what to drop, and how we use the principles inside an Axis Method engagement without naming them.