Hey!

Chris here. Welcome to Blueprint—the newsletter to help you build a winning engineering team.

At my first company, BriteCore, we hit a scale where I could no longer manage through direct relationships. You start with concentric circles—your leadership team closest to you, then layers building outward from your principles. 

That works when everyone's in the same building.

But as we transitioned to fully remote, keeping everyone aligned got harder. I was already deep into studying business frameworks, reading everything from Andy Grove to John Doerr. 

OKRs seemed like the answer.

Our brains went a little crazy with it. We tried creating this complex matrix that just got really complicated, really fast. No surprise to anyone: it didn't work.

Let me show you what we learned, and the simpler system we're using now to grow Surton.

📒 DEEP DIVE

How to Plan When Real Money Is on the Line

Turning overcomplicated OKRs into a system our team actually uses.

First thing's first: unless you're running a massive company, you probably only need a single layer of planning. You don't need to keep cascading things down further and further into your organization.

At Surton, we originally worked with OKRs. Solid framework, used by some of the best companies in the world. But there's a reason most teams struggle with it.

Take the name—3 letters (OKR) for 2 concepts (Objectives and Key Results). 

Seems minor, but it's a symptom of a bigger problem. These frameworks usually make simple things complex. We needed something our team could actually use. 

And that's when my brother Matt showed me the framework he uses for Barbell Logic. The G.A.M.E. Plan:

Goals: The most important goals for the business to achieve this year. 

Actions: Think of it like the scientific method applied to business—these should be simple yes/no questions. "Did I do this or did I not?"

Metrics: How we measure that we're moving in the right direction. Is the ship steered correctly? Do we need to move 5 or 10 degrees?

Execution: The systems, SOPs, day-to-day checklists, who owns it, and due dates.

Let's walk through exactly how this works using our current marketing plan.

Setting Real Goals

Right now, Surton's supply and demand are roughly equal. We're getting clients, delivering value, and keeping them long-term.

But I want a deeper pipeline so we can be selective about who we work with.

Our goal isn't just to "Get more leads." It's specific: Define and build our marketing pipeline to 2X our reach, leads, and conversions.

This creates what I consider a healthy stair-stepped growth pattern—we grow intensely, then catch our breath and adjust.

Actions in the Right Order

Here's where the G.A.M.E. Plan differs from other frameworks: Actions are chronological, not priority-based. 

Ideally, I’d aim to have 3 actions. 4 is okay and 5 is probably too much. For Surton's marketing, we have 3 sequential actions:

1) Content Production

We're a B2B company focused on solving complex technical problems. Our content needs to prove we know what we're talking about.

Unlike B2C marketing where you can advertise directly to end users through Instagram or TikTok, B2B requires a different approach. We need to be where business owners and decision-makers actually are—LinkedIn.

We work with Compound Content Studio for monthly expert interviews. They spend 90 minutes asking me questions we've agreed on beforehand, then turn those into daily content for LinkedIn. 

2) Lead Capture

Having an audience means nothing if you can't convert them into legitimate leads. We're focusing on a newsletter specifically targeting CTOs and founder CEOs, sharing engineering insights from 25 years of experience.

We divide leads into 2 categories: Cold leads who know about us and warm leads who are ready for a conversation.

The key is to bridge that gap by offering value before asking for anything. When someone moves from just consuming content to wanting a real conversation about their problems, we know we've built real trust.

3) Lead Nurturing and Conversion 

Moving from a qualified lead to a client requires bridging 2 gaps: automated to human interaction, and free-to-paid value.

Right now we're exploring both freemium and premium approaches. Customers can get an idea session, and a short deep-dive—where we drop loads of advice, "What I would do if I were in your shoes"—for free. But we're also testing premium offers, like offering the first five hours of development work at no cost.

From there, we focus on helping clients understand exactly how we can help them. When someone comes to us with a technical emergency—whether it's scaling issues or system failures—they need to know we can handle the complexity quickly and effectively.

But try to do the steps out of order, and you're wasting effort.

The Metrics That Matter

Every action needs clear measurement. We use a rolling forecast approach inspired by Andy Grove (the Father of OKRs) to track 2 types of metrics:

• Targets to Improve (TTIs): Where we want to go

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): A snapshot of where we are today

The delta between these tells us if we're moving in the right direction. Every month, we adjust targets based on reality. 

For each metric, we have two rows: target and actual. When actuals significantly beat targets, we raise future targets. When we miss, we adjust down. 

For example, if we're aiming for 50,000 in reach to get 10,000 qualified leads (a 20% conversion rate), we track both the target and what we're actually hitting. 

If we convert at 25%, we adjust future targets up. If we hit 15%, we recalibrate.

Making It Happen

The execution plan is where everything comes together. Each action breaks down into specific, assignable tasks with clear ownership and deadlines.

For content creation, our execution plan includes:

✓ Monthly expert interviews with Compound Social

✓ Content parsing and platform optimization

✓ Publishing schedule across LinkedIn, X, and YouTube

✓ Clear ownership of creation, editing, and distribution

For lead capture:

✓ Newsletter systems and automation

✓ Premium content development

✓ Email sequence creation and monitoring

✓ Lead scoring and qualification process

For conversion:

✓ Sales call scheduling and protocols

✓ Initial consultation process

✓ Proposal and scoping systems

✓ Client onboarding procedures

Each piece supports the one before it. You need the execution plan to complete the action. You need the action to achieve the goal.

Bottom Line

This approach works because it's simple enough to actually use, but structured enough to drive results.

Most companies try to do everything at once. They optimize their sales process before they have content worth sharing. They focus on lead capture before they have an audience worth capturing.

The G.A.M.E. plan works because it forces you to build each piece in order. All you have to do is focus on completing one piece at a time.

🎙 EPISODE OF THE WEEK

On Build Your Business, Matt and I dive into what actually turns focus into work. Not the surface-level productivity tips, but the real mechanics of deep work and why it matters for your business.

We break down why billionaires like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates consistently point to focus as their key to success, the true cost of context switching, and why it's killing your productivity more than you realize. 

Plus, we share specific techniques we use to manage distractions and create space for focused work—even when your business feels chaotic.

Listen wherever you listen to podcasts: Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Youtube

BEFORE YOU GO…

Look, most founders I talk to want a perfect plan. But planning only matters if you can execute it. We got rid of OKRs because we needed something that would work in reality, not just look good in a spreadsheet.

Start with the minimum—3 clear goals, straightforward actions you can actually complete, honest metrics, and execution plans your team can follow. Then build from there.

When we switched to this approach, our team actually started using the plan. Not because it was perfect, but because they could understand it and execute it. 

The best solution is the one that actually works for how your teams do.

See you next time,

Chris.