- Foundation
- Leverage
- Activation
- Iteration
- Realisation
Marlow Partners: the worked example
Marlow Partners is the composite professional services firm followed through the book. This page follows its first cycle, step by step.
The first Scorecard
11 out of 25. Stage 2, Emerging. Binding constraint: Foundation.
Binding constraint: Foundation.
Foundation
The Foundation work took six weeks. Five moves.
- Move 01
Logic dependency audit
for every assistant live or in scope, the fields it relies on, the systems they live in, who keeps them current, and the known points of failure.
- Move 02
Named-owner assignment
four named people per assistant, for process, data, logic and outcome.
- Move 03
Process clarity sprint
the one or two workflows that matter most, mapped with named handoffs and decision rights, and the regional divergences settled.
- Move 04
Baseline governance register
every assistant in production, what it does, who owns it, when it was last reviewed, what would trigger a review.
- Move 05
The no-exceptions commitment
the function heads agree, visibly, that the next initiative runs through Leverage and Activation as designed.
The second Scorecard
Foundation moved from 1 to 3. Iteration moved from 2 to 3. The total moved from 11 to 14.
Binding constraint: Leverage.
The Matrix and the numbers
Five candidates went through the Matrix. Two were a Go.
| Candidate | Impact | Ease | Readiness | Total | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery risk assistant (rebuild of existing) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 9 | Reduce scope or defer |
| Bid response drafting assistant | 4 | 3 | 5 | 12 | Go |
| Marketing content variant generator | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | Reduce scope or defer |
| Internal knowledge search | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | Deprioritise |
| Onboarding pack auto-assembly | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | Go |
| Case | Annual value | First-year return | Steady-state return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bid response assistant | £110,160 | £56,160 | £101,160 |
| Marketing variant generator | £8,640 | -£6,360 | £5,640 |
The Plan
The Plan committed to two initiatives, and it said what it would not do.
- Initiative 01
Bid response drafting assistant
Matrix 12/15. £110,160 honest annual value. Serves P1, new-business revenue in mid-market accounts.
- Who owns it. Process, Head of Pre-Sales. Data, Knowledge Manager. Logic, Platform Lead. Outcome, COO.
- What good looks like. The draft lands in the live-opportunity folder within ten minutes of the RFP being logged.
- Proof. Ninety minutes saved per response, with win rate on qualified bids from 22% to 26% by year end.
- Kill switch. Used on fewer than half of qualified bids at month three, or two consecutive reviews with unresolved drift.
- Initiative 02
Onboarding pack auto-assembly
Matrix 12/15. Serves P2, protecting delivery margin as headcount grows.
- Who owns it. Process, Head of Delivery. Data, Ops Lead. Logic, Platform Lead. Outcome, Head of Customer Success.
- What good looks like. The pack lands in kickoff preparation the working day before the kickoff call.
- Proof. Pack assembly time from six hours to two, with the error rate in packs at kickoff tracked.
- Kill switch. Assembly time above four hours at month three, or packs bypassed on more than a third of kickoffs.
Not committed: the delivery-risk rebuild, held on Readiness, and the marketing variant generator, held on adoption. Both wait for the next cycle.