Finance teams told us the seven-day overdue window felt polite. What it actually did was leave a genuine dispute unanswered for three days while the system waited to escalate.
The due-today stage stayed put. Overdue now starts on day three. Final notice still lands on day fourteen. Collections handoff is unchanged. The only deliberate move was bringing the first human-shaped nudge forward.
This is not a collections hardening
Earlier contact is for disputes and payment plans, not for harsher wording. The copy in every stage stayed the same; only the calendar moved.
Across six hundred Northwind accounts, the share that needed a call after the overdue stage dropped once the threshold moved. The figure below is the shape of that shift, not a promise for every ledger.
Median recovery across 600 Northwind accounts, 2025 to 2026. Earlier stages recover more without a call.
Dispute flags still pause escalation. Prediction still ranks who is likely to slip. The schedule is still a consumer-owned calendar, not a Northwind policy dressed as product.
We assumed a longer overdue window would feel gentler. It mostly just meant the first three days of a genuine dispute went unanswered.
{% extends "brickwork/shell/docs.html" %}
{% comment %}
An editorial article: long-form publishing on the shared reading shell
(icvoss/django-brickwork#415). First archetype in the Editorial and
publishing family.
COPY THIS FILE into your project and edit it. It is not on the template loader
path, so you cannot extend it (ADR-056).
What your view must supply:
crumbs breadcrumb trail: [{label, url}, ...], last unlinked
docs_nav_label rail / jump label (this page uses "In this article")
docs_search_action the URL bw_search in the site header submits to
author_name display name in the byline
author_href author profile URL (full author page is #416)
author_initials initials fallback for _article_meta avatar
published_on visible publication date string
published_iso machine date for <time datetime> (e.g. "2026-08-12")
reading_time visible reading-time string (e.g. "8 min read")
category_label category badge text (full category page is #417)
category_href category listing URL
article_state "ready" | "empty" | "error"
toc_items on-this-page outline for bw_toc: [{label, href}, ...]
The heading text, prose, callouts and figure below are typed into the template.
WHY THIS PAGE EXTENDS THE DOCS SHELL, NOT A NEW EDITORIAL SHELL:
ADR-091 bought the docs shell for one deciding fact: article-then-rail in
source order, with site chrome outside <main>. An editorial article needs
the same seams (reading column, optional on-this-page rail, site header and
footer). A second shell with the same regions would be a fork wearing a
family name. Family taxonomy is the examples/ directory
(`editorial/` -> "Editorial and publishing"), not which shell a page
extends: shells are cross-family building blocks (docs/CATALOGUE.md). The
phone jump and rail label are renamed via docs_nav_label so the chrome does
not say "Documentation" on a journal page.
WHAT DIFFERS FROM examples/docs/article.html:
A docs article orients a reader who already chose a section of a reference
tree: section rail, technical callouts, code panels. An editorial article
orients a reader who chose a story: byline (avatar + author + date +
reading time), a category badge, captioned figure, and continue-reading
neighbours. Reading-progress glue stays on #421 (closed under #260 as
documentation over _progress.html, not a new primitive). Full author,
category, archive, series and related-content pages are #416 to #420.
States: article_state is the page's real branch.
"ready": byline, prose, figure, on-this-page TOC, sibling rail, pager.
"empty": the article is not published yet (or was withdrawn). Empty state;
chrome and breadcrumbs stay so the reader can leave.
"error": the content store failed. bw_alert danger; same chrome rule.
LOADING: not applicable for the default server-rendered path.
Accessibility: byline text names the author (avatar aria-label matches);
category is a real link wrapping the badge text, not colour alone; heading
anchors name the section; pager direction is in the link text (WCAG 2.4.4);
empty and error keep search + breadcrumbs. On-this-page TOC sits in content
(not inside docs_nav) so it does not nest a second <nav> inside the shell's
rail landmark.
Responsive: inherits the docs shell; bw-prose holds the 65ch measure; the
byline wraps naturally as inline avatar + text.
{% endcomment %}
{% load i18n brickwork_components brickwork_nav %}
{% block page_title %}{% if article_state == "ready" %}Why we moved reminder thresholds - Northwind Journal{% else %}Article - Northwind Journal{% endif %}{% endblock %}
{% block docs_site_header %}
<a class="bw-docs-site-header__brand" href="/journal/">{% translate "Northwind Journal" %}</a>
{% bw_search docs_search_action placeholder="Search the journal..." %}
{% endblock %}
{% block docs_header %}
<nav class="bw-breadcrumbs" aria-label="{% translate 'Breadcrumb' %}">
{% include "brickwork/components/_breadcrumbs.html" with crumbs=crumbs %}
</nav>
{% if article_state == "ready" %}
<p>
<a href="{{ category_href }}">{% bw_badge category_label variant="info" %}</a>
</p>
<h1>{% translate "Why we moved reminder thresholds" %}</h1>
<p>
{% translate "Three days beats seven when the goal is a conversation, not a chase. The evidence from six hundred Northwind accounts." %}
</p>
{% include "brickwork/components/_article_meta.html" with author_name=author_name author_href=author_href author_initials=author_initials published_on=published_on published_iso=published_iso reading_time=reading_time %}
{% elif article_state == "empty" %}
<h1>{% translate "Article unavailable" %}</h1>
<p>{% translate "This piece is not published yet." %}</p>
{% else %}
<h1>{% translate "Article unavailable" %}</h1>
<p>{% translate "The journal could not load this piece." %}</p>
{% endif %}
{% endblock %}
{% block content %}
{% if article_state == "empty" %}
{% include "brickwork/components/_empty_state.html" with heading="Not published yet" body="This article is still in draft, or it was withdrawn. Browse the journal for live pieces, or contact the editor if you followed a shared link." icon="document" action_href="/journal/" action_label="Back to the journal" %}
{% elif article_state == "error" %}
{% bw_alert "The journal could not load this article. Retry in a moment, or open another piece from the journal home." title="Could not load article" variant="danger" %}
{% else %}
{% comment %}
On this page lives outside bw-prose (same craft as docs/article.html) so the
TOC list is not restyled by the prose floor. It is NOT placed in docs_nav:
that block is already wrapped in a <nav> by the shell, and nesting another
landmark would split the accessibility tree. {% bw_toc %} (#627) owns the
landmark; the view supplies toc_items.
{% endcomment %}
{% bw_toc items=toc_items heading_id="bw-editorial-toc-heading" %}
<div class="bw-prose">
<p class="bw-prose__lede">
{% translate "Finance teams told us the seven-day overdue window felt polite. What it actually did was leave a genuine dispute unanswered for three days while the system waited to escalate." %}
</p>
<h2 id="what-changed">
{% translate "What changed" %}
<a class="bw-prose__anchor" href="#what-changed" aria-label="{% translate 'Link to the What changed section' %}">#</a>
</h2>
<p>
{% translate "The due-today stage stayed put. Overdue now starts on day three. Final notice still lands on day fourteen. Collections handoff is unchanged. The only deliberate move was bringing the first human-shaped nudge forward." %}
</p>
<div class="bw-callout bw-callout--note">
<p class="bw-callout__title">{% translate "This is not a collections hardening" %}</p>
<div class="bw-prose bw-callout__body">
<p>
{% translate "Earlier contact is for disputes and payment plans, not for harsher wording. The copy in every stage stayed the same; only the calendar moved." %}
</p>
</div>
</div>
<h2 id="the-evidence">
{% translate "The evidence" %}
<a class="bw-prose__anchor" href="#the-evidence" aria-label="{% translate 'Link to the The evidence section' %}">#</a>
</h2>
<p>
{% translate "Across six hundred Northwind accounts, the share that needed a call after the overdue stage dropped once the threshold moved. The figure below is the shape of that shift, not a promise for every ledger." %}
</p>
<figure>
<img src="data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' width='640' height='280' viewBox='0 0 640 280' role='img'%3E%3Crect width='640' height='280' fill='%23e8eef5'/%3E%3Ctext x='32' y='48' font-family='system-ui,sans-serif' font-size='18' fill='%231a2332'%3ERecovery by stage%3C/text%3E%3Crect x='80' y='100' width='40' height='120' fill='%233d6b99'/%3E%3Crect x='200' y='140' width='40' height='80' fill='%233d6b99'/%3E%3Crect x='320' y='180' width='40' height='40' fill='%233d6b99'/%3E%3Crect x='440' y='200' width='40' height='20' fill='%233d6b99'/%3E%3C/svg%3E" width="640" height="280" alt="{% translate 'Bar chart of recovery by escalation stage' %}">
<figcaption>
{% translate "Median recovery across 600 Northwind accounts, 2025 to 2026. Earlier stages recover more without a call." %}
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2 id="what-we-kept">
{% translate "What we kept" %}
<a class="bw-prose__anchor" href="#what-we-kept" aria-label="{% translate 'Link to the What we kept section' %}">#</a>
</h2>
<p>
{% translate "Dispute flags still pause escalation. Prediction still ranks who is likely to slip. The schedule is still a consumer-owned calendar, not a Northwind policy dressed as product." %}
</p>
<blockquote>
{% translate "We assumed a longer overdue window would feel gentler. It mostly just meant the first three days of a genuine dispute went unanswered." %}
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
{% translate "Further reading:" %}
<a href="/journal/operations/dispute-flags/">{% translate "How a dispute flag pauses escalation" %}</a>
{% translate "and" %}
<a href="/journal/operations/late-payment-prediction/">{% translate "How late-payment prediction works" %}</a>.
</p>
</div>
{% endif %}
{% endblock %}
{% block docs_footer %}
{% if article_state == "ready" %}
{% translate "More in Operations" as bw_pager_aria_label %}
{% translate "How a dispute flag pauses escalation" as bw_pager_previous_label %}
{% translate "How late-payment prediction works" as bw_pager_next_label %}
{% include "brickwork/components/_pager.html" with aria_label=bw_pager_aria_label previous_href="/journal/operations/dispute-flags/" previous_label=bw_pager_previous_label next_href="/journal/operations/late-payment-prediction/" next_label=bw_pager_next_label %}
{% endif %}
{% endblock %}
{% block docs_nav %}
{% comment %}
Rail content only: the shell already wraps this block in <nav>. Sibling
journal links preview the related-content job (#420) without claiming that
archetype. Empty and error leave the rail blank so the disclosure has
nothing to invent.
{% endcomment %}
{% if article_state == "ready" %}
<p>{% translate "More in Operations" %}</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/journal/operations/dispute-flags/">{% translate "How a dispute flag pauses escalation" %}</a></li>
<li><a href="/journal/operations/late-payment-prediction/">{% translate "How late-payment prediction works" %}</a></li>
<li><a href="/journal/operations/collections-handoff/">{% translate "When collections handoff fires" %}</a></li>
</ul>
{% endif %}
{% endblock %}
