Sip one
M.C. Escher (1898–1972), the Dutch printmaker, drew worlds that follow their own rules perfectly and still make no sense: staircases that rise with every step and end where they began, water that runs downhill into its own source.
The drawings work because every local detail is right. Only the whole is impossible.
Sip two
Plenty of businesses run on Escher logic. Each step of the sales process makes sense on its own: the web form emails someone, who forwards it, who adds it to a spreadsheet, who calls back on Friday. Every step climbs.
The lead still ends up where it started: unanswered. When we map a client's process, we look for the loop, not the bad step.
Every step climbs. The lead still ends up where it started.
Sip three
Escher's other obsession was tessellation: shapes that interlock with no gaps and no overlaps. That's what a good system looks like. Sales, delivery and billing each own a tile, and the edges fit: one record, one handoff, nothing falling through the cracks.
The test is simple. Follow one lead from the first click to a paid invoice. If you end up back on the first stair, that's the conversation we should have.