Is your process setting you up for success?

Let’s get this out of the way: most visionary-led businesses didn’t start with a clean blueprint. They started with a spark, a burden, or a burning question. And then they got busy building.

That’s where the trouble starts.

While hustle is admirable, the build-out is often out of order. And when you build out of order, you don't just risk inefficiency, you risk burning out your team, blowing up your budget, and building a solution that doesn’t always solve the problem you intended to.

I see this all the time with the teams I coach. They’re passionate. Skilled. Funded. And yet their product still feels like it's slipping further away every time they reach for it. like trying to catch the dog that just stole the toilet paper. Every step forward can cause a reaction that feels like it pushes the goal farther away.

JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN ROLL!

So let’s back up. If you’re trying to scale something that never had a real starting point—or you’re in the middle of something messy, half-built, and halfway between vision and reality, this article is for you.

Here’s the product development flowchart I’ve used (and refined) with dozens of founders, execs, and teams who found themselves building out of order.

Step 1: Observe the Domain

You can't serve a field you haven’t studied.

Before you build anything, you need to see what already exists. Look at patterns, behaviors, inefficiencies, and workarounds. Ask: What are people already doing to solve this problem, even if imperfectly? What assumptions do they carry?

Many founders jump into solution mode before they’ve developed real intimacy with their domain. But without context, your product won’t land. Worse, you’ll start solving a problem that is tertiary to the main problem or doesn’t actually exist.

Step 2: Map the Problem/Solution

The problem is not the point. But it points you to clarity.

Clarity doesn’t come from clever ideas. It comes from naming the real friction your client is feeling. Not the big philosophical vision, but the tangible obstacle getting in their way today. This can expand to address the deeper philosophical dilemma, but first, we have to identify the event horizon (as in all good systems thinking¹) and then work down the iceberg to establish context and outcome shaping.

When you map the problem, your next move becomes obvious. Development frameworks like Scrum, Kanban, EOS, etc, can help here by prioritizing the end user outcome, through small, testable iterations that shape what is required to support the transformation that the end user is seeking.

Ask: What will the user be able to do differently when this is working? What are the functionalities that the end user must have to be successful?

This can also be helpful when piloting new or emerging concepts, as it gives the product owner/visionary a measurable outcome before they go “all-in” on a new product or program.

Step 3: Build the MVP

You don’t need the whole castle. You need the front door.

Too many teams spend months or years building out the full product before shipping² anything. The truth is, your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) isn’t about perfection; it’s about propulsion. It’s the thing that gets you moving. The simplest version of your solution that actually functions. To borrow from Dan Sullivan³, this is the 80/20 rule in action. 80% is good enough for now [as long as that 80% actually means functional], and 20% represents all the unknowns, variables, and details that could keep us from launching today if we had to have it match that perfect picture in our heads.

Your MVP is not a wireframe or a vision board. It’s a usable, testable chunk of your product that delivers value today. That’s the bar.

Questions that help root the MVP are: “If we could only pick one outcome we want our client to achieve, what is it?”

Step 4: Test and Iterate on Functionality

Build. Break. Learn. Repeat.

This framework, which is largely based on Agile Methodologies, works because it embraces feedback and adjusts quickly. After your MVP is out in the wild, your job is to listen (repeating step one). Observe how it works in the real world. Identify what’s sticky, what’s clunky, what’s confusing. Then tweak, test, and improve, not all at once, but in focused sprints.

As a coffee nerd, if you asked me how to make an espresso, I would say, “It's easy,” and then proceed to walk through a series of 16 steps to ensure you got the best espresso possible. If I change one variable in my process, I can measure how effective that change was by the outcome. If I change the grind setting, the dose size, and the water temperature all at once, I have no idea which made the biggest impact. Iterate and test sequentially. If your product isn’t evolving, it’s dying⁴. That’s not drama. That’s data.

Step 5: Scale

Scaling only works if your baseline delivers value every time.

When the core of your product works consistently and reliably, then it’s time to scale. That means documenting what works, training others to deliver it, and streamlining the delivery so it doesn't require heroic effort every time.

Ask: Could a stranger with basic training replicate this outcome? If the answer is no, you’re not ready to scale. You’re still in the iteration phase.

Step 6: Sustain

Real (Sustainable) products don’t depend on your personal energy to survive.

Sustainability means your product doesn’t fall apart when you leave the room. This is where documentation, team structure, workflows, and ongoing improvement cycles come in. It’s not sexy, but it’s what makes the difference between a high-performing product and a high-performing person holding it all together. Process over personality means that your team is not overdependent on the toxic rockstar of your group! We love them, they are amazing, but we all know who they are.

A sustainable process also means that your business or organization becomes a breeding ground for more than solutions. It becomes the place where talented people actually want to work and where less talented people come to grow into their strengths⁵.

And if you’ve built with agility, this step isn’t a new beginning. It’s a natural continuation.

Final Thoughts:

You may be in the “not yet started” camp. You may be halfway through the maze and realizing that every fix leads to more complexity.

Or you may be sitting on something incredible but feel unsure where to start or what to tackle next.

Wherever you are, don’t confuse effort with progress. Take a breath. Get your bearings. And then take the next step, in order. Because building something worthwhile doesn’t have to feel like chasing a dog trailing toilet paper through your living room. It just needs a better flow.

“There is no royal road to anything. One thing at a time, all things in succession. That which grows fast, withers as rapidly. That which grows slowly, endures.” - Josiah Gilbert Holland

Next up in the Fractional Advantage:

Profit | A conversation with Thirty Three Strategies partner Ethan Bush on why profit shouldn’t be viewed as a dirty word in mission work, and more. Stay tuned!