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ÆVRI, Aeilus Value Research Institute

Research

Practical, transparent work on how value is created, transformed and lost. Every work can be read without an account.

7 works match these filters
Methodology Papers

How to Assess Value: From Intuition to a Research Methodology

Value does not have to be measured in absolute units. In many decisions it is enough to determine which of the available actions brings a specific subject closer to the desired state. This note proposes one methodology with several levels of depth: from a quick assessment to collective expert judgement and empirical verification. It starts from the target state rather than from scores, checks causal links and alternatives, accounts for psychological biases, and ends with a practical decision card and a research programme for the institute.

value assessmentdecision makinggoal settingcognitive biasescollective estimationbucket estimationresearch methodology
Victor Bolshakov · 15 Oct 2026Not evaluated yet
Methodology Papers

Value Ownership Without Hierarchy: The Æilus Role and Process Model

In functional hierarchies every unit owns a process, but no one owns the value flow that crosses units and is realized at the receiving actor. This paper, written for managers, product and engineering leaders and operations, presents the Æilus v2.0 role and process model as a way to make value ownership explicit without adding command layers. It sets out the six roles, the mandatory process groups and events, an artifact allocation per role, an adoption path, and the risks of role inflation, bureaucracy and value theatre with their safeguards.

value ownershipÆilus rolesValue Transformer OwnerValue System OwnerFlow Owneroperating cycleartifacts and reportsvalue theatre
Victor Bolshakov · 1 Oct 2026Value +60
Methodology Papers

Wrapping OKRs and KPIs with Value: Prioritisation in a Common Value Currency

OKRs set direction and KPIs control quality, but in management systems all objectives look equal, so the convenient and the measurable tend to win over the important. This paper, for managers and product, engineering, operations and strategy leaders, proposes a value layer over existing goals: each objective and indicator receives a planned value and an anti-value estimate in Æ, tied to a named value system and owner, and is later checked against realized value. It gives the required record per objective, an eight-step adoption procedure, an illustrative example and safeguards against false precision and gaming.

OKRKPIprioritisationvalue currencyanti-valueplanned and realized valueaggregation policyGoodhart's law
Victor Bolshakov · 1 Oct 2026Value +120
Methodology Papers

Practices Are Local Value Systems: Domains, Policies and the End of 'Best Practices'

Practices copied from other organisations often fail to deliver, because a practice carries its form but not the value system that made it work. This paper, for managers and product and engineering leaders, defines a practice as a local value system with a declared value hypothesis, sets out when a practice is admissible under domain policies, and gives a structure for building and maintaining a practices collection.

practicesbest practicesdomainsdomain policiesadmissibilitypartial commensurabilitypractices cataloguevalue transformer
Victor Bolshakov · 1 Oct 2026Value +600
Theoretical Research

Why Leadership Decisions Destroy Business Value: Local Optimization and Hidden Anti-Value

Many organisations report green indicators while their long-term capacity to deliver value erodes. This paper, written for leaders and strategy, product and operations managers, explains through the Theory of Value Management why decisions that are rational within KPI frames destroy value, and how the resulting anti-value stays hidden. It offers a four-step value-based decision model and illustrates it with hypothetical scenarios.

leadership decisionsanti-valuelocal optimizationvalue flowsefficiencydecision modelVMTÆilus
Victor Bolshakov · 1 Oct 2026Not evaluated yet
Methodology Papers

Value, Anti-Value and Value Flows: A Working Vocabulary for Practitioners

Managers use the word value constantly but rarely say for whom it exists, and fall back on money as the only shared measure. This entry paper of the series gives practitioners a working vocabulary grounded in the Theory of Value Management: value systems, the four forms of value, value elements, anti-value, value flows and transformers, observation without money, the perspective inversion and the transformer efficiency formula, closing with a one-page glossary.

value management theoryanti-valuevalue flowsvalue elementsvalue transformerperspective inversiontransformer efficiencyAeilus
Victor Bolshakov · 1 Oct 2026Not evaluated yet
Theoretical Research

Value Management Theory and Employee-Centric Competitive Advantage: A System-Level Perspective

A system-level way for leaders, HR and strategy researchers to reason about employee-related value. The work models employees as participants in interacting value systems, shows how value flows turn into anti-value, and explains why the same employee practices produce different results in different organizations.

employee-centricitycompetitive advantageVMTanti-valuevalue systemsHR strategy
Victor Bolshakov · 28 Sep 2026Value +60

Aeilus Practices Catalogue

Practical ways of working with value, linked to the Æilus methodology. The catalogue is being prepared.

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