Playbook Zero — How We Run

Designing systems where momentum outpaces chaos.

Purpose

This is the non-negotiable operating system.

It keeps momentum high under constraints and scales without dependency on any single person.

It is principle-level and context-agnostic. Leads translate it into their team SOPs.

Core Cadence

  • Weekly: one visible win shipped.
  • Monthly: one major milestone delivered.
  • Meetings exist only if they’re on the calendar.
  • No open threads: close loops, move decisions forward.

Prioritization & Planning

  • Single source of truth: Linear / Jira / equivalent. If it’s not tracked, it doesn’t exist.
  • Pick the weekly visible win explicitly; anything postponed becomes named debt.
  • Priorities are visible, agreed, and closed before starting new work.

Delivery Standards

  • Simplicity first: no over-engineering, no cleverness for its own sake.
  • Quality = consistency: speed never justifies sloppiness.
  • Debt is deliberate: documented, time-boxed, and paid back.
  • Standards are codified and enforced — shortcuts compound into fragility.

Decisions & Documentation

  • Decisions are recorded (DRI, date, context, outcome) in the system of record.
  • Chat (Slack, Teams, etc.) is transient; don’t bury tasks or decisions in threads.
  • Sources of truth:
    • Work → Linear/Jira/etc.
    • Strategy/specs → Notion/Confluence/etc.
    • Code → Repo.

Ownership & Escalation

  • Leads own hygiene and enforce standards. If standards slip, it’s a leadership issue.
  • Blockers are flagged early with owner + plan.
  • Escalation is a leadership tool: surface blockers with options, not surprises.

Autonomy & Accountability

  • Success = the system runs smoothly without leadership intervention.
  • Systems > heroes: new people should be able to contribute fast.
  • Autonomy > dependency; clarity > assumptions; momentum > perfection.

Core Principles

  • Impact > Activity — output means nothing if it doesn’t move the business.
  • Momentum > Perfection — speed compounds; polish later.
  • Clarity > Assumptions — explicit beats implicit.
  • Simplicity > Complexity — default to simple.
  • Systems > Heroes — scale comes from process, not individuals.
  • Ownership > Excuses — if you touch it, you own it.
  • Autonomy > Dependency — the machine must run without me.

Executive-Level Discipline

  • This OS is reviewed quarterly by leadership.
  • Leads maintain local SOPs that implement it.
  • Principles are stable; implementations evolve as the org scales.

Why It Matters

This is the foundation. All other playbooks build from here.

It proves the team runs on clarity, cadence, and compounding momentum — not chaos, heroics, or dependency.

With this OS, momentum outpaces chaos. Without it, nothing else scales.