The Golden Triangle: a better test for every social decision
The Golden Triangle: a better test for every social decision
Efficient, scalable, sustainable. If a decision can’t pass all three, it’s a shortcut, not a system.
Efficient, scalable, sustainable. If a decision can’t pass all three, it’s a shortcut, not a system.
Storyflow team
Head of Operations
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5 min
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Three questions on one wall. Every request that comes in gets tested against all of them before anyone builds.
On this page
Why one axis isn’t enough
Running the test in practice
What changes when it sticks
In short
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Most social decisions get made on one axis. Is it fast? Is it cheap? Will it look good this week? Each answer sounds sensible on its own, and each one quietly creates a cost that someone else picks up later.
Most social decisions get made on one axis. Is it fast? Is it cheap? Will it look good this week? Each answer sounds sensible on its own, and each one quietly creates a cost that someone else picks up later.
The Golden Triangle is the test we use instead. A decision has to be efficient, scalable and sustainable at the same time, or it doesn’t ship. It sounds strict. In practice it removes most of the arguments.
The Golden Triangle is the test we use instead. A decision has to be efficient, scalable and sustainable at the same time, or it doesn’t ship. It sounds strict. In practice it removes most of the arguments.
Why one axis isn’t enough
Why one axis isn’t enough
Why one axis isn’t enough
Speed without scale means every market does its own version. Scale without sustainability means the team burns out by the third quarter. Efficiency without either just moves the work around. The cost always lands somewhere.
Speed without scale means every market does its own version. Scale without sustainability means the team burns out by the third quarter. Efficiency without either just moves the work around. The cost always lands somewhere.
A shortcut is a decision that only passes one side of the triangle.
A shortcut is a decision that only passes one side of the triangle.
From a Storyflow onboarding session
A shortcut is a decision that only passes one side of the triangle.
From a Storyflow onboarding session
Running the test in practice
Running the test in practice
Running the test in practice
Before anything is built, three questions get asked out loud. Does it save time across every market, not just one? Will it still work at twice the volume? Can the team run it every month without heroics?
Before anything is built, three questions get asked out loud. Does it save time across every market, not just one? Will it still work at twice the volume? Can the team run it every month without heroics?
The triangle on the planning wall. Requests that fail a side go back with a note, not a no.
The triangle on the planning wall. Requests that fail a side go back with a note, not a no.
What changes when it sticks
What changes when it sticks
What changes when it sticks
Requests arrive better formed, because people know the questions in advance. Fewer one-off builds get approved. And the work that does ship keeps paying back, month after month, instead of being rebuilt for the next launch.
Requests arrive better formed, because people know the questions in advance. Fewer one-off builds get approved. And the work that does ship keeps paying back, month after month, instead of being rebuilt for the next launch.
In short
01
One-axis decisions move cost, they don’t remove it.
02
Three questions, asked before anything is built.
03
Work that passes all three keeps paying back.
In short
01
One-axis decisions move cost, they don’t remove it.
02
Three questions, asked before anything is built.
03
Work that passes all three keeps paying back.
Let’s talk
Let’s talk
Let’s talk about your structure specifically.
Let’s talk about your structure specifically.
Thirty minutes with a strategist. We look at your structure, not a slide deck.
Thirty minutes with a strategist. We look at your structure, not a slide deck.