Build the Operations Handbook

Estimated time: 60-90 minutes

This workflow builds the operations handbook: how the company runs day to day, who decides what, and how problems escalate. It is the operations handbook, not the HR handbook. The build proceeds through operating cadences, the decision rights matrix, escalation paths, and the remaining operational sections, then assembles them into one document. Review and refine each section before advancing.

Steps

Step 1: Capture the Company Brief

Open by telling the user you will build the operations handbook (how the company runs day to day, distinct from an HR handbook), then ask them for: company stage, headcount, key functions, and any existing operating cadence such as weekly reviews or monthly business reviews. Ask these as a single grouped question and wait for the answer. Record the response verbatim as the brief.

• Input: user description of stage, headcount, functions, existing cadences
• Output: a captured company brief
• Key focus: anchor every later section in the company's actual stage and size

Step 2: Infer the Required Sections (uses: ops-handbook)

From the brief, infer which handbook sections this company needs at its current stage. List the inferred sections and give a one-paragraph reasoning. Surface the inference to the user so they can add or remove sections before you build them.

• Input: company brief from Step 1
• Output: the list of required handbook sections with reasoning
• Key focus: right-size the handbook to the stage, no premature bureaucracy

Step 3: Build the Operating Cadences (uses: ops-handbook)

Build the operating cadences: the weeklies, monthlies, and quarterlies, each with its purpose, owner, attendees, and inputs and outputs. Show the cadences to the user and ask whether to refine them or proceed to decision rights. If they ask for changes, revise against their feedback and show them again. Allow up to two refinement passes.