Reducing Friction, Creating Habits
As a service manager, I wanted to stay closely connected to how our customers were using support—daily. So I built a series of reports, each tailored by customer, and felt great about it.
The result?
I stopped checking them just days later.
Even after setting up daily email digests, they sat unopened. Days got busy, and without realizing it, I was no longer proactively aware of emerging issues—until escalation calls came in. Ideally, I wanted to know before those calls happened.
So I sat down and asked myself:
Why am I not spending just 5–10 minutes a day reviewing what I know is important?
Here’s what I found:
- Too many reports – one per customer made it overwhelming.
- Too much noise – many cases were auto-generated or low-touch, thanks to our capable team.
- Low actionability – even when I reviewed the data, it rarely led to clear next steps.
The fix?
I created a lightweight, interactive tool:
- Aggregated all customer cases into one view
- Filtered out low-relevance entries
- Grouped cases by age (older cases first, fresher ones later)
- Made it accessible within 2–3 clicks
With friction removed, daily reviews became a habit. I started taking more meaningful actions—and nowadays, I often already know why a customer is calling.
This reflection made me realize:
Removing friction has consistently helped me make good habits stick—at work and in life.
Want to read more?
- Paperbacks → Kindle
- eReaders → smartphone size eReader
- Preloaded Korean bookstore credits for instant access
Want to work out more?
- Gym → Pull-up bar at home
James Clear said it best in Atomic Habits:
“Reduce friction. Decrease the number of steps between you and good habits.”
These days, I’m thinking about how we can reduce friction for our team—especially when it comes to finding relevant technical info.
(And on the personal side… healthier food with less prep.)
Have you had a moment where reducing friction made a big difference—at work or outside of it?
I’d love to hear your story.