Operations Workflow
Complete guide to building operational foundations including workflows, tools, metrics, meeting cadence, and process documentation
The Operations workflow helps founders establish efficient operational processes that scale with the company.
Overview#
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Phases | 4 |
| Tier | Business |
| Typical Duration | 2-3 weeks (initial), ongoing |
| Best For | Growing teams, scaling operations, process improvement |
Why Operations Matter#
Good operations:
- Enable scaling - Processes that work for 5 work for 50
- Reduce chaos - Clear workflows reduce confusion
- Improve quality - Consistent processes produce consistent results
- Free up time - Automation handles repetitive tasks
- Support decision-making - Metrics inform choices
Operations Framework#
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ OPERATIONS FRAMEWORK │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ STRATEGY │ │
│ │ Vision → Goals → OKRs → Initiatives │ │
│ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐ │
│ │ WORKFLOWS │ │ TOOLS │ │ METRICS │ │
│ │ Processes & │ │ Tech stack │ │ KPIs & │ │
│ │ playbooks │ │ & systems │ │ dashboards │ │
│ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ └──────┬──────┘ │
│ │ │ │ │
│ └───────────────┼───────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌──────▼──────┐ │
│ │ RITUALS │ │
│ │ Meetings & │ │
│ │ cadence │ │
│ └─────────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Phases#
Phase 1: Core Workflows (1 week)#
Agents: business-analyst
Define the essential workflows that run the business.
Tasks:
- Map core business processes
- Document key workflows
- Identify automation opportunities
- Create workflow playbooks
Core Workflows Map:
## Essential Business Workflows
### Product Development
Feature Request → Prioritization → Design → Development → Review → Deploy │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Feedback RICE scoring Figma/PRD Sprint PR review CI/CD channels Product review review planning QA pass Release
**Key Steps:**
1. Capture feature requests (feedback, support, ideas)
2. Weekly prioritization review
3. Design sprint for major features
4. Development sprint (2 weeks)
5. Code review and QA
6. Staged deployment
### Customer Onboarding
Sign-up → Welcome Email → First Value → Activation → Engagement → Success │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Account Onboarding Tutorial Power user Regular Health creation sequence completion features usage check
**Key Metrics:**
- Time to first value: < 5 minutes
- Activation rate: > 40%
- D7 retention: > 30%
### Customer Support
Ticket → Triage → Investigate → Resolve → Follow-up → Close │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Create Priority Root cause Fix or Confirm CSAT ticket & assign analysis workaround resolved survey
**SLAs:**
| Priority | First Response | Resolution |
|----------|---------------|------------|
| Critical | 1 hour | 4 hours |
| High | 4 hours | 24 hours |
| Medium | 24 hours | 72 hours |
| Low | 48 hours | 1 week |
### Sales Process (if applicable)
Lead → Qualify → Discovery → Demo → Proposal → Negotiation → Close │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Inbound BANT Pain/need Value Custom Terms Contract Outbound check mapping prop pricing discussion sign
### Incident Management
Detect → Alert → Acknowledge → Investigate → Resolve → Post-mortem │ │ │ │ │ │ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Monitor Page On-call Root cause Fix & Document & alarm team response analysis verify learnings
**Severity Levels:**
| Level | Description | Response Time | Escalation |
|-------|-------------|---------------|------------|
| SEV1 | Service down | Immediate | All hands |
| SEV2 | Major degradation | 15 min | On-call + lead |
| SEV3 | Minor issue | 1 hour | On-call |
| SEV4 | Low impact | Next business day | Async |
Workflow Documentation Template:
1## Workflow: [Name]
2
3### Overview
4**Purpose:** [Why this workflow exists]
5**Owner:** [Who is responsible]
6**Frequency:** [How often it runs]
7
8### Trigger
9[What initiates this workflow]
10
11### Steps
12
13| Step | Action | Owner | Tool | SLA |
14|------|--------|-------|------|-----|
15| 1 | [Action] | [Role] | [Tool] | [Time] |
16| 2 | [Action] | [Role] | [Tool] | [Time] |
17| 3 | [Action] | [Role] | [Tool] | [Time] |
18
19### Decision Points
20- If [condition], then [action]
21- If [condition], then [escalate to]
22
23### Outputs
24- [Deliverable 1]
25- [Deliverable 2]
26
27### Metrics
28- [Metric 1]: [Target]
29- [Metric 2]: [Target]
30
31### Related Documents
32- [Link to related playbook]
33- [Link to related template]Phase 2: Tool Stack (1 week)#
Agents: business-analyst, devops-expert
Select and configure the operational tools.
Tasks:
- Audit current tools
- Identify gaps
- Select new tools
- Configure integrations
- Document tool usage
Startup Tool Stack:
1## Recommended Tool Stack
2
3### Product & Engineering
4
5| Category | Tool | Cost | Purpose |
6|----------|------|------|---------|
7| Project management | Linear | $8/user/mo | Issues, sprints |
8| Code hosting | GitHub | Free-$4/user | Repository, PRs |
9| CI/CD | GitHub Actions | Included | Build, test, deploy |
10| Error tracking | Sentry | Free-$26/mo | Error monitoring |
11| Analytics | PostHog | Free tier | Product analytics |
12| Monitoring | Vercel | Included | Hosting, logs |
13
14### Communication
15
16| Category | Tool | Cost | Purpose |
17|----------|------|------|---------|
18| Team chat | Slack | Free tier | Daily communication |
19| Video calls | Google Meet | Included | Meetings |
20| Async video | Loom | Free tier | Updates, demos |
21| Email | Google Workspace | $6/user/mo | Company email |
22
23### Customer
24
25| Category | Tool | Cost | Purpose |
26|----------|------|------|---------|
27| Support | Intercom / Crisp | Free-$50/mo | Chat, tickets |
28| CRM | HubSpot | Free tier | Pipeline, contacts |
29| Email marketing | Resend / Loops | $20/mo | Transactional, campaigns |
30| Feedback | Canny | Free-$50/mo | Feature requests |
31
32### Operations
33
34| Category | Tool | Cost | Purpose |
35|----------|------|------|---------|
36| Docs | Notion | Free tier | Wiki, docs, processes |
37| Passwords | 1Password | $8/user/mo | Credential management |
38| Legal | Ironclad / DocuSign | Varies | Contracts, signatures |
39| Finance | Mercury / Brex | Free | Banking, expenses |
40| Accounting | QuickBooks / Bench | $25-300/mo | Bookkeeping |
41
42### Estimated Monthly Cost
43
44| Stage | Team Size | Monthly Cost |
45|-------|-----------|--------------|
46| Pre-launch | 1-2 | $0-100 |
47| Early | 3-5 | $200-500 |
48| Growth | 6-15 | $500-2,000 |
49| Scale | 15+ | $2,000+ |Tool Integration Map:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ TOOL INTEGRATIONS │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ │
│ ┌───────────┐ │
│ │ Slack │ │
│ │ (Hub) │ │
│ └─────┬─────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌───────────┬───────────┼───────────┬───────────┐ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ ┌────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ ┌────▼────┐ │
│ │ GitHub │ │ Linear │ │ Sentry │ │ Stripe │ │Intercom │ │
│ │ Commits │ │ Issues │ │ Errors │ │ Payment │ │ Support │ │
│ │ PRs │ │ Sprint │ │ Alerts │ │ Events │ │ Tickets │ │
│ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ └─────────┘ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ └───────────┴───────────┴───────────┴───────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ┌─────▼─────┐ │
│ │ Notion │ │
│ │ (Docs) │ │
│ └───────────┘ │
│ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Phase 3: Metrics & Dashboards (3-5 days)#
Agents: business-analyst, backend-expert
Define key metrics and create visibility through dashboards.
Tasks:
- Define company KPIs
- Create team metrics
- Build dashboards
- Set up alerts
- Establish review cadence
Metrics Framework:
1## Company Metrics (North Star + Supporting)
2
3### North Star Metric
4**[Metric Name]:** [Definition]
5**Target:** [Value]
6**Why:** [Why this matters most]
7
8Example:
9> **Weekly Active Users (WAU):** Unique users who performed core action
10> **Target:** 1,000 WAU by end of Q2
11> **Why:** Best indicator of product value delivery
12
13### Supporting Metrics
14
15#### Acquisition
16| Metric | Definition | Target | Current |
17|--------|------------|--------|---------|
18| Website visitors | Unique visitors/week | 10,000 | 5,000 |
19| Sign-up rate | Sign-ups / visitors | 5% | 4.2% |
20| New users | New accounts/week | 500 | 210 |
21
22#### Activation
23| Metric | Definition | Target | Current |
24|--------|------------|--------|---------|
25| Activation rate | Users completing onboarding | 40% | 35% |
26| Time to value | Sign-up to first success | < 5 min | 7 min |
27| Feature adoption | Users using key feature | 60% | 45% |
28
29#### Engagement
30| Metric | Definition | Target | Current |
31|--------|------------|--------|---------|
32| DAU/WAU | Daily / Weekly active | 40% | 32% |
33| Session length | Avg time per session | 8 min | 6 min |
34| Actions per session | Core actions per session | 5 | 3.5 |
35
36#### Retention
37| Metric | Definition | Target | Current |
38|--------|------------|--------|---------|
39| D1 retention | Users returning day 1 | 50% | 45% |
40| D7 retention | Users returning day 7 | 30% | 25% |
41| D30 retention | Users returning day 30 | 20% | 15% |
42| Churn rate | Users lost / total | < 5%/mo | 6% |
43
44#### Revenue
45| Metric | Definition | Target | Current |
46|--------|------------|--------|---------|
47| MRR | Monthly recurring revenue | $10,000 | $5,500 |
48| ARPU | Avg revenue per user | $50 | $45 |
49| LTV | Customer lifetime value | $500 | $450 |
50| CAC | Customer acquisition cost | < $50 | $40 |
51
52### Team-Specific Metrics
53
54#### Engineering
55- Deployment frequency
56- Lead time for changes
57- Change failure rate
58- Time to recover from failure
59
60#### Customer Success
61- Response time (avg, p95)
62- Resolution time
63- CSAT score
64- NPS
65
66#### Marketing
67- Traffic by source
68- Conversion by channel
69- CAC by channel
70- Content engagementDashboard Design:
## Executive Dashboard
### Overview Section┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ WEEKLY SNAPSHOT │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ MRR WAU NPS Runway │ │ $5,500 1,200 42 8 months │ │ +12% WoW +8% WoW +5 MoM - │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
### Funnel Section
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ CONVERSION FUNNEL │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ Visitors → Sign-ups → Activated → Paid │ │ 10,000 500 (5%) 200 (40%) 50 (25%) │ │ │ │ ████████████████████████████████████████████████████ │ │ ██████████████████████████ │ │ █████████████ │ │ ████ │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
### Trends Section
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ MRR TREND │ ├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ │ │ $10K ┤ ○ │ │ │ ○ │ │ $8K ┤ ○ │ │ │ ○ │ │ $6K ┤ ○ │ │ │ ○ │ │ $4K ┤ ○ │ │ │ ○ │ │ $2K ┤ ○ │ │ │ ○ │ │ $0 ┼────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴──── │ │ M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 │ │ │ └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Phase 4: Meeting Cadence (2-3 days)#
Agents: business-analyst
Establish effective meeting rhythms and communication patterns.
Tasks:
- Define meeting cadence
- Create meeting templates
- Set up recurring meetings
- Establish async communication norms
Meeting Cadence Framework:
1## Company Meeting Cadence
2
3### Daily
4| Meeting | Duration | Attendees | Purpose |
5|---------|----------|-----------|---------|
6| Standup | 15 min | Team | Sync, blockers |
7
8### Weekly
9| Meeting | Duration | Attendees | Purpose |
10|---------|----------|-----------|---------|
11| All-hands | 30 min | Everyone | Updates, wins, Q&A |
12| Leadership sync | 60 min | Founders + leads | Strategy, decisions |
13| 1:1s | 30 min | Manager + report | Support, growth |
14| Sprint planning | 60 min | Engineering | Plan next sprint |
15| Customer review | 30 min | Product + CS | Feedback review |
16
17### Bi-weekly
18| Meeting | Duration | Attendees | Purpose |
19|---------|----------|-----------|---------|
20| Sprint retro | 45 min | Engineering | Process improvement |
21| Marketing review | 45 min | Marketing + leadership | Performance, plans |
22
23### Monthly
24| Meeting | Duration | Attendees | Purpose |
25|---------|----------|-----------|---------|
26| Metrics review | 60 min | Leadership | KPI review |
27| Product roadmap | 60 min | Product + leadership | Roadmap update |
28| All-hands (extended) | 60 min | Everyone | Deep dive topic |
29
30### Quarterly
31| Meeting | Duration | Attendees | Purpose |
32|---------|----------|-----------|---------|
33| OKR planning | 2-4 hours | Leadership | Set quarterly OKRs |
34| Strategy review | 2-4 hours | Founders | Strategy assessment |
35| Team offsite | 1 day | Everyone | Team building, planning |Meeting Templates:
1## All-Hands Meeting (30 min)
2
3### Agenda
41. **Wins of the week** (5 min)
5 - Product wins
6 - Customer wins
7 - Team wins
8
92. **Key metrics** (5 min)
10 - MRR update
11 - User growth
12 - Key funnel metrics
13
143. **Updates by team** (10 min)
15 - Product: What shipped, what's next
16 - Engineering: Technical updates
17 - Customer: Feedback themes
18 - Marketing: Growth updates
19
204. **Focus for next week** (5 min)
21 - Company priorities
22 - Key initiatives
23
245. **Q&A** (5 min)
25 - Open questions from team
26
27---
28
29## 1:1 Meeting (30 min)
30
31### Agenda
321. **How are you doing?** (5 min)
33 - Personal check-in
34 - Energy/motivation level
35
362. **Updates from you** (10 min)
37 - What's going well
38 - What's challenging
39 - Any blockers
40
413. **Feedback exchange** (10 min)
42 - Feedback for you
43 - Feedback for me/company
44
454. **Growth & development** (5 min)
46 - Progress on goals
47 - Learning opportunities
48 - Career discussion
49
50---
51
52## Sprint Planning (60 min)
53
54### Agenda
551. **Review previous sprint** (10 min)
56 - What got done
57 - What didn't, why
58
592. **Upcoming priorities** (10 min)
60 - Product priorities
61 - Technical debt
62 - Bug fixes
63
643. **Capacity planning** (10 min)
65 - Team availability
66 - Known interruptions
67
684. **Sprint backlog** (25 min)
69 - Pull items into sprint
70 - Estimate effort
71 - Assign owners
72
735. **Commitments** (5 min)
74 - Sprint goal
75 - Key deliverablesAsync Communication Norms#
1## Communication Guidelines
2
3### When to Use What
4
5| Scenario | Channel | Expectation |
6|----------|---------|-------------|
7| Urgent (SEV1/2) | Slack + call | Immediate |
8| Time-sensitive | Slack DM/channel | 2-4 hours |
9| FYI / updates | Slack channel | End of day |
10| Detailed discussion | Notion comment | 24 hours |
11| Non-urgent | Email | 48 hours |
12| Reference docs | Notion | N/A |
13
14### Slack Norms
15- Use threads to keep conversations organized
16- @channel sparingly (urgent only)
17- @here for time-sensitive but not urgent
18- Set status when unavailable
19- Mute notifications outside work hours
20
21### Documentation Norms
22- If it's asked twice, document it
23- Keep docs up to date (owner responsibility)
24- Use templates for consistency
25- Link, don't duplicate
26
27### Meeting Norms
28- Agenda required for all meetings
29- Default to 25 or 50 minutes (not 30/60)
30- Document decisions and action items
31- OK to decline if no agenda or you're optionalStarting the Workflow#
1# Start operations workflow
2bootspring workflow start business-operations
3
4# Generate workflow documentation
5bootspring business ops workflows
6
7# Set up dashboards
8bootspring business ops dashboards
9
10# Create meeting templates
11bootspring business ops meetingsDeliverables#
A successful Operations workflow produces:
- Core workflow documentation
- Process playbooks
- Tool stack guide
- Integration map
- Metrics framework
- Dashboard specifications
- Meeting cadence calendar
- Meeting templates
- Communication guidelines
Best Practices#
- Start simple - Add process as needed, not upfront
- Document what matters - Not everything needs a process
- Automate repetitive tasks - If you do it weekly, automate it
- Measure what you manage - But don't measure everything
- Review and improve - Processes should evolve
- Communicate changes - Teams need to know
Common Pitfalls#
- Over-engineering processes early
- Too many meetings
- Tools without adoption
- Metrics without action
- Stale documentation
- No process ownership