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:
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:
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:
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:
Dashboard Design:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 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:
Meeting Templates:
Async Communication Norms#
Starting the Workflow#
Deliverables#
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