The Backbone of Business
The Three Essentials for Great Business Operations
Operations is the heartbeat of a business. It’s what keeps everything running, when it works well, nobody notices. When it fails, everything catches fire.
You can have the best product, the best strategy, and the best vision in the world, but if your operations are a mess, you’re just a high-functioning disaster waiting to happen.
At its core, operations is about three things:
1. People (The Who)
2. Processes (The How)
3. Systems (The Tools)
These three pillars are what hold a business together, and if one of them is weak, everything else starts wobbling. Let’s break them down.
People: The Who
People are the most valuable, and unpredictable, asset in any organization. That’s why payroll is typically the largest expense for most companies. You can buy the best software, automate everything under the sun, and document perfect processes, but if your people aren’t executing, adapting, solving problems, and making decisions, it all falls apart.
Take a startup. In the early days, everyone wears a lot of hats. The marketing person might also be handling customer support, and the CEO is probably ordering office snacks. But as you scale, you need to allocate people to the right tasks, at the right time, based on expertise and experience, otherwise, you end up with engineers answering support tickets and sales rep writing code (neither of which ends well).
A simple truth: great people can fix bad processes, but great processes can’t fix bad people. If you don’t have people who can think critically, follow through, and problem-solve, your operations will always be a mess, no matter how good your systems are.
Processes: The How
Processes are how work gets done. They’re the repeatable workflows that allow a business to scale without turning into chaos.
Ever heard of the Rule of 3s? Basically, every time an organization triples in size (1, 3, 10, 30, 100, 300, etc.), the processes that worked before will start breaking.
• A 3-person startup doesn’t need formal processes, everyone just talks to each other. You can move fast and pivot often.
• A 10-person company needs documented workflows because word-of-mouth starts failing.
• A 30-person company needs communication protocols and delegation, or you get Slack anarchy and inboxes flooded with “just following up in” emails. This is also where meetings start picking up.
• A 100+ person company starts needing real middle management, clear performance metrics, and process automation. Unfortunately sometime the business begins to focuses more on how to work together than how to serve their customers. Every workshop figuring out how to find better synergies better different functional groups is less time focused on the product, service, or customer needs.
Every growth stage forces a process upgrade. The faster a company recognizes this and adapts, the less painful the transition.
Systems: The Tools
Systems are the technology and infrastructure that make everything scalable. These include:
Data management (how we store and access information)
Automation (how we make processes faster)
Operational visibility (reporting, dashboards, and insights)
In the early days, spreadsheets and Notion docs might be enough. But as you scale, systems become critical. The difference between a well-run business and an operational nightmare is whether you have tools that give you clarity, or just create noise. Visibility creates accountability.
A quick warning: Don’t automate a broken process. First, eliminate unnecessary tasks. Then, automate repetitive ones. Finally, delegate what still requires human judgment. If you automate something useless, all you’re doing is making inefficiency happen faster.
How They Work Together
Now, let’s talk about what happens when these three elements intersect:
1. People + Processes → Continuous Improvement
When the right people are executing well-designed processes, they find inefficiencies and improve them.
If processes are broken, you either need to train your people or fix the process.
2. Processes + Systems → Workflow Automation
Good processes fuel good systems. If you’re collecting the right data, you can measure and optimize performance.
Automation lives here. But remember: don’t automate inefficiency. Delete, then automate, then delegate.
3. Systems + People → Smart Decision-Making
Systems generate data. But data is useless without interpretation.
People need to manage the tools, analyze the reports, and make strategic decisions. Otherwise, you’re just collecting numbers with no action.
The Takeaway: Operational Excellence = Seamless Execution
When People, Processes, and Systems work together, operations becomes a force multiplier. It enables teams to move faster, waste less time, and execute at scale without burning out.
When they don’t?
People get frustrated. (Too many meetings, unclear expectations.)
Processes collapse. (Work falls through the cracks.)
Systems become disparate and unused. (Too many tools, no clear insights.)
Good operations isn’t about creating bureaucracy, it’s about removing friction so the real work can happen. It’s not sexy, but it’s the difference between a company that thrives and one that burns itself to the ground.
