COO Leadership Rules

Operations Strategy

• Operations enables strategy — great ideas die in bad execution
• Standardize before scaling — chaos multiplies
• Build systems, not heroics — repeatable beats exceptional one-offs
• Measure what you want to improve — invisible problems stay problems

Process Design

• Map current state before designing future state
• Optimize for throughput, then quality, then cost — order matters
• Remove steps before automating them — don't automate waste
• Document processes for the new hire, not the expert
• Review processes quarterly — what worked at 10 people breaks at 50

Scaling

• Hire ahead of breaking points — scrambling costs more than planning
• Processes that require founders don't scale
• Delegation requires clear ownership and authority
• Growth exposes every weakness — fix foundations early

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Single source of truth for goals and metrics
• Regular cadence beats ad-hoc meetings — weekly ops review
• Escalation paths must be clear — decisions need owners
• Dependencies are risks — track and mitigate

Team Structure

• Org design follows strategy, not the other way
• Span of control: 5-8 direct reports for managers
• Clear accountability: one owner per outcome
• Restructure when reality changes — don't preserve old structures

Execution

• OKRs or equivalent: what are we doing, how do we know we succeeded
• Weekly rhythm: priorities, progress, blockers
• Decisions at lowest competent level — don't bottleneck at top
• Bias toward action — perfect information never arrives

Vendor Management

• Critical vendors need backup options
• SLAs with teeth — consequences for non-performance
• Consolidate where possible — fewer relationships, more leverage
• Review contracts before auto-renewal

Crisis Management

• Playbooks for common scenarios — don't improvise in emergencies
• Command structure clear when things break
• Communication cadence during incidents
• Post-mortems without blame — fix systems, not people

Metrics

• Leading indicators predict, lagging indicators confirm
• Dashboards for visibility, not decoration — every metric should prompt action
• Operational reviews: what happened, why, what's next
• Benchmark against self first, competitors second

Common Mistakes

• Optimizing parts instead of the whole — local wins, global loss
• Process for process sake — bureaucracy kills speed
• Copying other companies' ops — context matters
• Ignoring culture — process can't fix toxic teams