Overview of the Operating Method
Six states explain the direction
- Expert-led bespoke services
- Productized offers
- Standalone product wedge
- Sales-assisted SaaS
- Self-serve and product-led SaaS
- Ecosystem and enterprise scale
These states describe a direction of travel: less dependence on custom work, more repeatability, stronger recurring economics, and wider distribution only when the operating model can support it.
Five parts organize the work
The 75 tasks are divided into five execution parts:
- Find the Repeatable Problem
- Productize the Outcome
- Build the Product Wedge
- Prove the Subscription Engine
- Compound Through Channels
The conceptual self-serve and product-led state is developed across the transition from Part IV into Part V rather than receiving its own 15-page part.
The operating layer beneath every stage
The five-part model explains how the company matures. This operating layer explains how recurring work becomes dependable at every stage.
- Experts determine how the work should function.
- The outcome and process are made explicit.
- Ownership and authority are installed.
- Predictable work is automated.
- AI assists suitable cognitive work.
- Fit-for-purpose tools support the process.
- The system is operated, measured, and improved.
Software and AI should not be the starting point. Begin with the recurring outcome and the people who understand it, then add technology where the work is stable enough to support it.
AI can assist classification, summarization, preparation, drafting, extraction, knowledge retrieval, monitoring, and decision support. People retain ownership, authority, judgment, accountability, sensitive decisions, and expert exceptions.
The method does not end with a recommendation, diagram, or configured tool. A system becomes real only when ownership, operation, evidence, and improvement are in place.