Here are six decisions worth closing before you scale — and what happens if you leave them undecided.
01 · What you're actually optimising for
Speed or craft. Predictability or upside. You can't have both ends of either pair — and the one you haven't named is the one your team will guess at.
Write the sentence: “When in doubt here, we choose ___ over ___.”
02 · Where the work happens
Not because one answer is better. Because it's the hardest thing to change later. It lives in where people chose to live, and what they were promised at offer stage.
03 · What you'll never outsource
The test: if this capability got twice as good, would we win? If yes, it stays inside.
That question also hands you your hiring plan, in priority order.
04 · What a person is worth here
Without bands, every salary is a negotiation — and a negotiation rewards confidence, not contribution. Two people doing the same job on different money, for reasons you wouldn't say out loud.
They find out. They always find out.
05 · Who decides what
With real numbers. “Reasonable spend” is not a boundary. £2,000 is.
06 · What you refuse to become
Values written as aspirations do nothing. Nobody was ever against integrity. Values written as refusals cost you something — and that is exactly what makes them real.