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planning-frameworks

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Planning Frameworks - Decision Models & Coaching Patterns

Last Updated: 2026-02-20
Owner: Luke Scorziell
Purpose: Document repeatable decision frameworks and coaching patterns for daily/weekly planning

High-Leverage Decision Framework

From Founding Ops Team Mission:

Deliver 20% faster and 20% better with each increment of growth, using a systems and AI-first mindset.

The Question: Is This High Leverage?

Before committing to any task, ask:

  1. Revenue Impact: Does this directly impact MQLs, pipeline, or close rate?
  2. Strategic Movement: Does this advance a key initiative (Omni pivot, partnerships, new service)?
  3. Team Leverage: Does this unblock or multiply others’ work?
  4. Systems Building: Does this create reusable assets or processes?
  5. Learning/Validation: Does this test a hypothesis or gather critical market feedback?

If NO to all five → Push it out or delegate it.

Examples

HIGH LEVERAGE:

  • Sending white paper to 5-10 target accounts → Direct pipeline
  • Validating Omni strategy with Greg → Strategic movement
  • Creating content outlines Ryan can execute → Team leverage
  • Building planning agent → Systems building
  • Watching E2A sales call to understand messaging → Learning

LOW LEVERAGE:

  • Manually scheduling social posts Ryan can do
  • Building HubSpot automations (not your strength)
  • Attending meetings with no clear outcome
  • Perfecting a case study that’s “good enough” already
  • Tracking 20 sub-metrics that don’t change behavior

Pain → Impact → Solution Framework

From Luke’s GTM Retro (Feb 2026):

“Sell on pain, not features. Understand the human problem, connect it to business impact, then position our solution as the outcome.”

The Framework

1. Identify the HUMAN Problem

  • What keeps them up at night?
  • What makes their job harder/more stressful?
  • What are they getting blamed for that’s out of their control?

2. Connect Pain to BUSINESS Impact

  • Wasted money (ad spend on campaigns that don’t work)
  • Lost revenue (killed campaigns that actually drove sales)
  • Time sink (15 hours/week on manual reporting)
  • Opportunity cost (team doing data entry vs strategy)

3. Position Solution as OUTCOME (not technology)

  • “You’ll know which campaigns actually drive revenue”
  • “Your team saves 15 hours/week on manual reporting”
  • “You can confidently scale what’s working and kill what’s not”

Application to Planning

When planning your day/week, ask:

  • What pain am I solving today? (For customers, for the team, for the business)
  • What’s the business impact if I don’t solve it? (Revenue loss, opportunity cost, team blocked)
  • What’s the outcome I’m driving? (MQLs, strategic clarity, team unblocked)

If you can’t articulate the pain/impact/outcome → Maybe it’s not high leverage.

Energy Management Framework

Three Energy States

LOW ENERGY (50% Day):

  • Symptoms: Tired, scattered, decision fatigue, low focus
  • Strategy: High-impact only (2-3 tasks max), push everything else
  • Best for: Quick wins, unblocking others, delegation conversations
  • Avoid: Creative work, big decisions, new projects

NORMAL ENERGY (Standard Day):

  • Symptoms: Steady focus, can context-switch, productive but not superhuman
  • Strategy: Balance execution + strategy (5-6 tasks across different types)
  • Best for: Meetings, content review, tactical execution, team coordination
  • Avoid: Deep strategic thinking (save for high energy), low-value tasks

HIGH ENERGY (Strategic Day):

  • Symptoms: Clear-headed, creative, can see patterns, motivated
  • Strategy: Deep work on strategic moves (1-2 big things)
  • Best for: Strategic planning, content creation, market research, big decisions
  • Avoid: Meetings that don’t require strategic input, tactical execution Ryan/Hannah can do

Energy Management Rules

  1. Start each day with an energy check - Plan accordingly, don’t fight it
  2. Protect high-energy blocks - Cancel low-value meetings, batch tactical work
  3. Use low-energy strategically - Delegation convos, quick wins, admin tasks
  4. Recovery is strategic - Walking, showering, movement = investment in next block
  5. Fasting impacts energy - Plan 50% days on fasting days, don’t overcommit

Examples

Low Energy Day:

  • Send white paper to 5 accounts (15 min)
  • Unblock Ryan on content posting (15 min)
  • Schedule calls you’ve been putting off (15 min)
  • STOP THERE. Rest, recover, prep for tomorrow.

High Energy Day:

  • Build Omni content strategy (2 hours deep work)
  • Create 9 agency post outlines (1.5 hours creative)
  • Draft negotiation framework for metrics simplification (1 hour strategic)

Delegation Decision Tree

The Question: Should I Do This or Delegate It?

graph TD
    Start[Task comes up] --> Question1{Does this require MY specific expertise/relationships?}
    Question1 -->|Yes| Question2{Can I teach someone else to do this?}
    Question1 -->|No| Delegate[DELEGATE to Ryan/Hannah/Ops]
    Question2 -->|Yes| Teach[Teach once, then delegate future instances]
    Question2 -->|No| Question3{Is this in my top 3 priorities this week?}
    Question3 -->|Yes| DoIt[DO IT - but time-box and document]
    Question3 -->|No| Push[PUSH to next week or cancel]

YOU-ONLY Work (Can’t Delegate)

  • Strategic decisions (Omni pivot, partnership priorities, campaign direction)
  • Relationship-building with key partners (MotherDuck exec, Omni leadership)
  • High-stakes sales conversations (closing strategic deals)
  • Coaching Robert/Uttam on GTM strategy
  • Negotiating scope/metrics with leadership

TEACH-ONCE-THEN-DELEGATE Work

  • Content outline creation (teach Ryan the framework, he runs with it)
  • Outreach campaign design (show Hannah the playbook, she executes)
  • Event prep frameworks (create template, team fills it in)
  • Meeting prep (show once, delegate future)

DELEGATE-NOW Work

  • Content scheduling and posting (Ryan)
  • Lead magnet distribution (Hannah)
  • HubSpot automation builds (Ryan/Hannah/Ops)
  • Event logistics and follow-up (Hannah)
  • Profile engagement and commenting (Ryan)
  • Pipeline data entry (Ops, not Luke)

NOT-YOUR-STRENGTH Work (Get Help or Negotiate Off Plate)

  • Pipeline hygiene and CRM management → RevOps or sales ops
  • Technical automation builds → Engineering or ops
  • Financial reporting and budget tracking → Finance
  • Detailed analytics and metric tracking → Data analyst or ops

Meeting Prioritization Framework

Four Meeting Types

STRATEGIC (High Priority - Must Attend):

  • Leadership enablement calls (Robert/Uttam coaching)
  • Partner development (MotherDuck, Omni, Snowflake)
  • Sales conversations with strategic accounts
  • Weekly retros where you’re presenting strategy
  • Rule: Prep thoroughly, show up fully present

TACTICAL (Medium Priority - Can Delegate/Skip Sometimes):

  • Content planning with Ryan/Hannah (can async if needed)
  • Team standups (important but can miss occasionally)
  • Partner calls that are exploratory (Default example - “not really sure if relevant”)
  • Rule: If energy is low or higher-leverage work conflicts, reschedule

INFORMATIONAL (Low Priority - Async When Possible):

  • General updates that could be Slack messages
  • Meetings where you’re just listening (no input needed)
  • Recurring check-ins with no agenda
  • Rule: Ask for async summary or decline

TIME SINKS (Cancel/Avoid):

  • Meetings with no clear outcome or agenda
  • “Let’s brainstorm” without specific problem to solve
  • Meetings where you’re not decision-maker or contributor
  • Recurring meetings that lost their purpose
  • Rule: Politely decline or propose async alternative

Meeting Prep Decision

Prep thoroughly (20-30 min) when:

  • Strategic meeting (Greg on Omni, Third Bridge follow-up)
  • You’re presenting or leading (Friday retro)
  • High-stakes partnership or sales conversation
  • You need to make or influence a decision

Light prep (5-10 min) when:

  • Tactical meeting with clear agenda
  • You’re supporting others’ work
  • Recurring meeting with known format

No prep needed when:

  • You’re just listening/learning
  • Meeting is exploratory with no decisions
  • Someone else is leading and you’re optional

Decision Paralysis Patterns & Solutions

Common Patterns (From Coaching Sessions)

PATTERN 1: “First time doing this, don’t know what I’m doing, don’t want to get it wrong”

  • Example: Creating case study for the first time
  • Reality: You’re building a template for future use, not creating perfection
  • Reframe: Version 1 just needs to be “good enough” to send. You’ll learn more by shipping than by perfecting in your head.
  • Action: Set 1-hour timer, create ugly first draft, ship it

PATTERN 2: “Lots of tasks, unsure where to start”

  • Example: 14 in-progress Linear tickets + reviews + todos
  • Reality: Decision paralysis from too many options
  • Reframe: What’s the ONE outcome that would make today a win?
  • Action: Pick one high-leverage task, ignore everything else until it’s done

PATTERN 3: “Too much scope, feel behind”

  • Example: E2A content, insurance content, sales campaign, all feeling behind
  • Reality: Bottleneck somewhere (Zoran delay, Ryan slow on posting, unclear strategy)
  • Reframe: What’s blocking forward progress? Who should own what?
  • Action: Identify the bottleneck, unblock or delegate around it

PATTERN 4: “Spinning plates, unclear priorities”

  • Example: Agency outreach + Omni pivot + content campaigns + partnership calls all active
  • Reality: Multiple strategic moves in parallel with unclear hierarchy
  • Reframe: What’s the strategic bet? What’s supporting vs distracting?
  • Action: Name the #1 strategic priority (e.g., Omni specialization), align everything else to it

Strategic Pivot Detection

Signs You’re Having a Strategic Insight

From coaching sessions, these patterns indicate strategic clarity emerging:

SIGNALS:

  • “I see an entry point with…” (Omni/DBT/Snowflake for mid-market retail)
  • “What if we specialize in X instead of being generalists?” (Omni implementation experts)
  • “This can be our main strategy and pivot…” (Content, services, campaigns align)
  • “There’s a lot of opportunity for us to deliver value” (Partnership excitement)

WHAT TO DO:

  1. Capture it immediately - Write it down before it fades
  2. Validate quickly - Talk to 2-3 people who can confirm/challenge (engineers, partners)
  3. Adjust priorities - What needs to change this week to test this?
  4. Communicate it - Share with team so they understand the shift
  5. Give it space - Don’t let tactical work crowd out strategic thinking

Testing Strategic Bets

GOOD TEST:

  • “Let’s validate Omni strategy with Greg and Demilade this week”
  • “Create 3 Omni content pieces and see if they resonate”
  • “Reach out to 10 Snowflake/DBT users in retail and gauge interest”

BAD TEST:

  • “Let’s build out the entire Omni service offering before testing demand”
  • “I’ll think about this more and circle back in a month”
  • “Wait until we have all the data before deciding”

RULE: Bias toward action. Test strategic bets with small, fast experiments (1-2 weeks max).

Coaching Questions (Self-Coaching Protocol)

Daily Self-Coaching

Morning (5 min):

  1. What would make today a win? (ONE thing)
  2. What’s my energy level? (Plan accordingly)
  3. Am I doing work someone else should own? (Delegation check)
  4. Does today’s plan tie to my 3 metrics or strategic moves?

Evening (5 min):

  1. Did I achieve my win for today? If not, why?
  2. What did I learn that changes tomorrow’s priorities?
  3. What should I delegate or stop doing?
  4. What strategic insights emerged today?

Weekly Self-Coaching

Monday (15 min):

  1. What’s my ONE big win goal for this week?
  2. What strategic move am I testing?
  3. What can I delegate to Ryan/Hannah?
  4. What’s my energy/capacity forecast?
  5. Am I stuck on tasks outside my strengths?

Friday (15 min):

  1. Did I hit my weekly win? If not, what blocked me?
  2. What worked this week that I should do more of?
  3. What didn’t work that I should stop or adjust?
  4. What strategic insights should inform next week?
  5. What do I need to communicate to Robert/Uttam?

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Common Traps (From Coaching Sessions)

TRAP 1: Doing Execution Work That Should Be Delegated

  • Example: Manually scheduling posts Ryan can do, building HubSpot automations
  • Cost: Your time on 500/hour strategy
  • Fix: “Is this YOU-only work?” If no → Delegate

TRAP 2: Perfecting When “Good Enough” Works

  • Example: Refining case study for hours when 80% version ships fine
  • Cost: Opportunity cost of not working on next high-leverage task
  • Fix: “Will this 20% improvement change the outcome?” If no → Ship it

TRAP 3: Tracking Metrics That Don’t Drive Decisions

  • Example: Profile viewers, tier 2/3 engagement, repeat engager %
  • Cost: Time reporting instead of time driving outcomes
  • Fix: “Do I use this metric to make decisions?” If no → Stop tracking

TRAP 4: Attending Meetings That Don’t Need You

  • Example: Exploratory partner calls with no clear outcome
  • Cost: 1 hour that could be deep work on strategic priorities
  • Fix: “Am I decision-maker or critical contributor?” If no → Decline or async

TRAP 5: Working on Your Weaknesses Instead of Getting Help

  • Example: Pipeline hygiene, HubSpot builds - “not my strength at all”
  • Cost: Slow progress + frustration + opportunity cost
  • Fix: “Is this my strength?” If no → Get ops support or negotiate off plate

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