Systems · 8 min read
Products fail when the operating model stays invisible.
Teams do not need perfect process. They need a shared view of how decisions get made.
01
The work behind the work
Most product failures are not idea failures. They are coordination failures. Nobody can see who decides, when, with what evidence, and what happens when the decision is wrong.
02
Make the path visible
Write the decision rights. Publish the intake. Show the queue. When the operating model is visible, politics has less room to hide.
Systems are the deliverable, not artefacts.
Framework
Product Operating Model
Products fail when nobody can see who decides, when, and with what evidence.
- 01
Decision rights
Who decides, and who is consulted.
- 02
Intake
How work enters the system.
- 03
Queue
What is in motion, and what is waiting.
- 04
Evidence
What moved the call.
- 05
After
What happens when the decision is wrong.
Takeaway
Write the decision rights. Publish the intake. Show the queue. Politics has less room when the path is visible.