By Dr.-Ing. Walter Tritt · A real experience from roll-out - and the honest admission of what a points system cannot do.
The task exchange is the heart of the concept: whoever finishes their work picks up the next job - visible, fair, self-directed. But there was a moment during roll-out when this very heart met rejection. Not from the weak performers. From the best ones.
A service company with experienced specialists. Each of them solely responsible for their own field - specialist knowledge, specialist equipment, specialist customers. Solid order situation, full calendars. When the exchange was about to be introduced, the answer turned everything upside down:
„The exchange is not for us - we do our job on our own and we are fully booked.“
The forecast in the room was clear: this is going to fail. Why would they use an exchange? They did not need jobs from others - they had their own. And helper jobs from the exchange did not fit their specialist profile.
There were two options now: discuss - or act. Discussing would have meant explaining why the exchange was good after all, persuading, pushing. The better way was one sentence:
„Fine. Then we will put your excellent work on points as well.“
And that is exactly what happened: the specialists’ own core tasks - their daily, independently performed expert work - were added to the points system. Not as pressure, but as visibility: what you have mastered all your life is now counted like everything else.
What happened next, nobody would have predicted - the sceptics had declared it certain to fail:
Result: the „refusers“ suddenly joined in. They now did their own tasks with points - and on top of that they took on other jobs as well. And - this is the real punchline - they enjoyed it.
Inconceivable before. The exchange that was „not for us“ was being used - by exactly the people who had rejected it.
The rejection had never been about the system. It was about invisibility. Specialists work alone - nobody sees their performance in passing, nobody compares, nobody says „you are doing this well“ along the way. Their recognition arrives (if at all) with delay via invoices and customer satisfaction - abstract and anonymous.
And the exchange? At first it seemed to mean: only what lands on the exchange counts. Your specialist work does not. That felt like devaluation - hence the resistance.
When their own tasks earned points, exactly this obstacle fell: their work became visible and valued. Only now did the exchange make sense - because the market now appreciated what they were doing anyway. And the next step, giving a colleague a hand, was no longer a step down but a plus on the account.
And there is the next level - rarely seen: when only one person can do it, everything hangs on one person. Illness, vacation, departure - the system stands still. The specialist is the greatest strength and the greatest weak point at once.
Normally, exactly this monopolist has no incentive to share knowledge: the knowledge is their security and their power position. Orders („go and train someone“) rarely get far - they are carried out half-heartedly, the monopoly remains. This is where the points system comes in: whoever makes others fit earns points. Training becomes a rewarded, visible achievement - the knowledge keeper becomes a knowledge multiplier without losing anything: they gain recognition instead of losing power.
And the time for it? It has been there all along in such a system - the quiet hours between jobs, the buffer, the idle time. Instead of seeing it as a problem, it becomes an investment: in availability. In fail-safety. In the security of the whole system. And in the end the points show who spun this safety net - visibly, not just as a feeling.
Three directions - all of them fuelled by points:
• Keep training yourself - quiet time becomes competence: new techniques, new fields, new equipment
• Train and involve others - sharing knowledge becomes rewarding, the monopoly becomes the safety net
• Win additional market - new customers or job types via the exchange: the company grows instead of waiting
This is not theory: I myself led such a specialist department - back then without GoodPoints, without points. There, too, loners became a growing unit, because knowledge was shared and people were involved instead of keeping the monopoly. And the reward for the one who carried that build-up in my sense was a team leader position back then - a promotion as a thank you. This is exactly what GoodPoints makes universal today: instead of a single position for a single builder, everyone visibly earns points - for training, involving and strengthening the unit.
One honest note: training points need real quality. Someone is trained when they can later do the task themselves - checked by a second expert, not by the time the session was scheduled. Otherwise training becomes a counting exercise.
Now for the uncomfortable truth: specialist companies often have little general work just waiting to be distributed. When everyone is fully booked with their own specialist work and no cross jobs come in, the exchange stays quiet. Idle time appears when no matching job exists - and software does not make it disappear. Finding or creating more work is the only real solution for that. There is no points system that conjures up work - and anyone promising that is selling something other than what they deliver.
1. Idle time becomes visible instead of hidden. Classically, idle time hides inside the salary: someone is employed but currently has nothing - nobody says it, everybody knows it, nothing changes. With the points system it becomes visible where capacity sits. Visibility is the first step towards something better - denial never is.
2. The status barrier falls. When a general job does come up, the question is not who has time - but who dares. „The master does not do parcel work“ is status thinking that points render worthless: the specialist who takes on a simple job loses no face - they visibly earn points. Small jobs are no longer a put-down because they are counted.
3. Fair distribution remains the promise. GoodPoints distributes the existing work fairly and transparently - nobody is favoured or punished. What it does not promise: creating work that is not there. That honesty belongs in every first meeting.
4. And the quiet jackpot: their own specialist tasks are finally counted. Exactly the step that turned the whole story around in the anecdote.
With specialists, the exchange is not a sure-fire success. But that is precisely where the first step has the strongest effect: first make their own work visible - then talk about the market. The order decides. Whoever starts with the exchange without appreciating the specialist work hears: „not for us“. Whoever starts with the appreciation later hears: „we should have done this all along“.
And the idle time? It is not prettified, it is named. That is less than some expect - but more than most systems offer: they hide it.
Two steps, in this order: first make their own work visible, then reward sharing the knowledge. Whoever walks both turns the irreplaceable specialist into the safest foundation of the system - voluntarily, with points, and with genuine enjoyment.
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Try it nowConcept and ideas: Dr.-Ing. Walter Tritt (KVD Service Management Award 1992, developed during his doctorate) · Text edited with AI support · Implemented as software: goodpoints.de · Further publications at www.scwt.de
© 2026 · Dr.-Ing. Walter Tritt