Document everything as processes and systems
Document everything or think about everything in terms of processes and systems. Systems enable scaling, remote work, and distributed teams.
When to use
When scaling; when building distributed teams
Don't do this
Keeping processes in one person's head
7 Founders Who Did This
Created documented Operating Principles that new hires learn during onboarding alongside the company's original principles from founding year
Graham advises writing down 'who we are and how we do things' before rapid growth. At Facebook, they created a compensation philosophy before building the compensation system - the philosophy guided system evolution.
Applied E-Myth Revisited principles: documented all processes, trained team members (hired people from recovery halfway houses), then deliberately removed himself from execution.
Built playbooks for every process from day one: welcome calls, webinars, emails, events, all documented with inspection processes. Designed entire business for acquirer scrutiny before getting first customer.
Maintained a Google Doc playbook updated after every sales meeting throughout 2020, documenting questions, topics, and required decisions for each meeting type
Built out repeatable processes and systems, trusted hired specialists to manage departments instead of funneling everything through founders
Recommends documenting everything as processes and systems. Revisits and reimplements systems annually, citing Ray Dalio's Principles book