The architecture beneath everyday business.
Operational debt is what accumulates when systems continue to function without being properly realigned to how they’re actually used. Unlike technical debt, which is often associated with code or architecture, operational debt lives in processes, handovers, permissions, exceptions, and informal practices. It’s the residue of survival decisions—choices that made sense at the time, solved an […]
Standardisation is one of the most common promises made inside organisations. Same SOPs, same systems, same rules, same expectations. On paper, standardisation creates predictability, control, and efficiency. In reality, especially in Malaysia, standardisation rarely survives contact with daily operations. What emerges instead is a negotiated version of the standard — shaped by people, environment, constraints, […]
Configuration Drift: When Identical Systems Stop Being Identical Configuration drift is what happens when systems that were once identical slowly diverge over time, even though no one explicitly decided to change them. At the start, everything looks clean. Setups are cloned, procedures are copied, and standards are documented. Then real operations begin. Small changes are […]
Every business runs on a network of dependencies, whether it acknowledges them or not. These dependencies form a hidden architecture that determines how resilient, fragile, or brittle the operation really is. The visible parts of a business—output, revenue, growth—sit on top of this architecture, but they are not the architecture itself. What matters operationally is […]
The Work That Counts Is Usually Invisible For a long time, I thought I understood what “hard work” meant. I associated it with long hours, obvious output, and visible progress — things that could be pointed to, explained, or shown as proof. What I didn’t fully appreciate was how much real work happens in places […]
Malaysia’s business landscape in late 2025 is marked by several meaningful developments that influence how companies plan, prioritise, and execute strategic decisions. These trends reinforce the importance of disciplined, structured decision frameworks — exactly the kind Sharppoint writes about regularly. Below is a concise analysis of key developments and what they imply for business leaders, […]
Why “Does It Make Sense?” Is the Wrong First Question For a long time, I thought cost–benefit analysis meant one thing: numbers. If the benefits were higher than the cost, the decision made sense. Simple. In reality, that framing caused more confusion than clarity. The better question was never “Does it make sense?” but “In […]
Why Some Decisions Feel Heavier Than Others I used to think some decisions felt heavy because they were important. Over time, I realised that wasn’t quite true. They felt heavy because I was trying to hold too many things in my head at once. Money, time, people, risks, expectations, and unknowns would all blend into […]
Big Decisions Are Rare — Which Is Why They’re Dangerous Most of our daily choices are small and reversible. Big decisions are different. They don’t happen often, which means we get very little practice making them. Yet when they do show up, they tend to involve money, time, reputation, or long-term commitment. That combination makes […]