Business Systems Architecture: Building Operations that Scale

My grandfather built well over 100 custom homes in our small town, earning a reputation for such precise construction quality that cabinet installers knew they would barely need to make adjustments when installing. He'd show clients standard blueprints, let them request changes and the customizations they wanted to make it truly their home - a breakfast nook here, a closet  there. Then they would adjust and redraw the plans without compromising structural integrity. The original architects designed these blueprints knowing people would want modifications, creating flexible designs that worked whether ceilings were raised or bedrooms expanded.

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An architect that specializes in common homes and businesses designs what’s known as “vernacular” architecture – your common, day-to-day styles that were, in reality, probably designed by dozens or even hundreds of people over time. “High” architecture (like the Notre Dame or the Capitol Building) has one distinct name and fashion attached to it, but vernacular architecture is designed to be adjustable, scalable, and efficient. In the art world this might be seen with some disdain, but in the business world this is exactly what we want our business operations to look like. Our processes need to be uniquely designed to our specific needs but straightforward and simple enough that we can keep the same general shape even as we adjust and scale them to new demands as our business grows. Intentional, thought-out business operations strategies that make growing your business easier, not harder. 

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Taking the “architect’s approach” to business systems design involves thinking ahead. It’s your job to make your business’ dreams become your reality, but that doesn’t just happen by accident. As the architect to your business you have to intentionally lay out the road map and draw up the plans to move in the direction you want while building the foundation for the future you’re walking towards. So what does this really mean, practically? Like any good builders, we should start with the foundation.

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The Foundational Dos and Don’ts of Operations Strategy

To build a strong foundation, first you need a clear vision. What are your goals? Where do you want your business to be in five years? Then you need to start designing the processes that make that goal feasible. You want to grow your business by 20% year over year? To have 15 new clients by the end of the year? Open a new location within 3 years? Then you’ll probably need some business process automations to lower the time you’re spending on administrative tasks and free up your schedule for increased client workloads or splitting your time between a new location and the original. Or maybe you need to start planning for a new employee or saving for new equipment. That means you’ll need to look into the business automation tools, employee management tools, inventory and task management tools, and whatever else you may need to actually increase your work capacity and start growing in the direction of your goals.

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But before you get to framing walls on this “house”, you need to make sure whatever systems, processes, and tools you use aren’t going to crack the foundation you’re working so hard to build. Here are a few common foundational mistakes that can cause operational collapse once you start growing:

• Your systems aren’t scalable. If you can’t easily add more people to your current systems, or quickly adjust your current systems to be able to handle additional people, you need to rethink your processes and tech stack. How can they be built to scale for future growth?
• Your systems aren’t “stackable”. If none of the tech software you use can integrate together so they can “talk” to each other, you’re going to end up with a huge bottleneck issue, or worse, a huge miscommunication issue. Make sure your tech can integrate fairly easily (because if they can’t integrate easily, you’ll run into a scaling problem too). 
• Poor communication and data sharing between teams. Many great businesses have fallen under the sword of poor communication and data management. This slows down most if not all of your operations, making tasks that could be 5 minutes last hours because team members are scouring Google Drive folders to find information that could be compiled in an easy-to-navigate central location, or they don’t know a plan changed for a major client project and spend hours working on tasks that are no longer relevant. Make sure your teams can easily access and share all the information they need to do their jobs well and to stay well informed. 
• Not effectively training your team members and documenting your processes. If you can’t delegate tasks to your team members because you’re the only one who understands how a certain process or automation works, or who understands how to do something clients frequently ask for, your business operations will grind to a halt the moment you reach capacity or step out for a period of time (hello vacation time!). 
• Overly complex systems and processes. The simplest solution that gets the job done well is often the best. If the only person who can understand how to do xyz in your business is you, it’s too complex. Keep your processes straightforward and simple, and they’ll be easier to train and to scale. 
• Your business relies too heavily on one person. This is, understandably, incredibly difficult for small business owners when it’s pretty common for it to just be us for the first few years. But as your team grows, if your business is completely dependent on one person for it to continue to run smoothly, then there’s only one weak point in your foundation that needs to crack before the whole thing comes tumbling down. Always make sure at least two people on your team know how to do an essential process - and always document your processes so someone can step in easily when needed. 

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Plotting and Planning: How to Map Your Systems for Strength

Now that you know how to build a solid foundation and avoid the common pitfalls that might lead to a breakdown, it’s good to map out your existing systems to spot any weaknesses that need to be addressed. One thing I like to ask my clients is, “If you got ten new clients in the next few weeks, how would your business handle it? Would you adjust or fall apart?” If the answer is “fall apart”, the next question to ask yourself is “why?”. If your team doesn’t have the capacity to add on that many clients, what’s holding you back from creating the capacity? If it’s a lack of organization or inefficient processes, start with improving this first. If it’s that only one person on your team (this includes you) can do a certain task that most or all of these potential clients will need, it’s time for team training to build your team to be able to support that type of work too. 

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You want your “load-bearing” systems to be efficient and scalable, so when you identify these weak spots it’s a good idea to redesign them so they can distribute that weight better, either by improving your existing strategy or building something completely new to better address the current and expected future problems. Your systems should bend, not break, and be easily fortifiable. Give yourself relevant, if somewhat optimistic (or pessimistic) hypotheticals to test how well your business reacts to certain stressors. Maybe ten new clients wouldn’t wreck the business but taking on new clients while also needing to hire & onboard a new team member would. Find these weaknesses and design your operations to be a stronghold to support the growth you're striving for. 

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Getting to the Root of Your Business Problems

Once you know the weak spots in your operations, the hard part is making sure you provide a solution within the context of your whole business. You don’t want to put a bandaid on a bullet wound by training one more team member in a process that is insanely overcomplicated and inefficient. The systems within your business are interconnected, through you, your team members, your tech, etc. This is when systems mapping comes in handy - head to our blog “An Engineer’s Perspective: Systems-Based Thinking” for some practical tips on systems mapping. You know the flex points in your system already, because right now they’re pain points, the places where it all starts to crumble with too much pressure. As you consider the best solution to your future problems, plug them into your systems map and consider the ripple effects. Does this solution address the root cause of the problem? Will it negatively impact something else and create a new problem? An isolated solution will likely be unscalable since it is situation specific, but a holistic solution that’s built based on an understanding of how all the moving parts of your business work together will be designed to work within and grow with your business. 

Now you should have all the puzzle pieces you need to start approaching your operations as the architect of your business! This can be an overwhelming process to go through, especially if building your business processes to be scalable and planning with both vision and intentionality is new to you. That’s why we help clients build scalable systems that’ll go the distance with their business. If you’re looking to build your company’s systems and processes for the long-term but feel unsure of where to start, consider our systems audit as a way to get the operations blueprint needed to support your business as it grows to new heights.