Operations

The systems and processes that let a company run repeatably — documentation, workflows, vendors, support, security and internal communication.

Example

A written onboarding process that any team member can follow without asking the founder.

Important

Unglamorous, and it decides whether growth strengthens the company or breaks it. Operations problems usually surface as everyone being busy with nothing moving.

Related terms

• SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) — A written, repeatable description of how a recurring task is done.
• Onboarding — The process of getting a new customer or a new employee productive.
• Delegation — Handing over an outcome, with the authority to decide how it gets done.
• Governance — The rules and structures by which decisions get made and the company is held accountable.

Lessons that explain it

• SOPs — writing down how things are done — Write it the second time you do something, not the twentieth. It is also the only way to delegate without re-explaining. (10 min)

All 176 terms in the Founder glossary