Operations for growing UK teams
Clearer handovers. Faster quotes. Less chasing.
Practical operating systems for UK software and agency teams of 5 to 50 people: clear handovers, explicit approval rules and role-specific onboarding.
Acme Ltd, £18,400
1 day
Illustrative example.
Where growing teams lose time.
A quote is ready, but nobody knows who can approve it.
What to inspectElapsed waiting time and exception reasons.
A practical first changeA named approval authority and a fallback.
Delivery receives a sale without the decisions behind it.
What to inspectScope, assumptions and acceptance criteria.
A practical first changeA sales-to-delivery handover gate.
New starters depend on whoever is free.
What to inspectOne role's tasks and review criteria.
A practical first changeA task-led first fortnight.
See how an approval queue forms.
When more quotes need approval each week than the approver can clear, the queue grows, however hard everyone works.
| Quotes per week | 40 |
|---|---|
| Share needing approval | 60% |
| Approval demand | 24 per week |
| Approval capacity | 20 per week |
| Result | Queue grows by 4 per week in this model |
Illustrative capacity model, not an assessment of your business. Excludes variability, batching, holidays and rework.
Three systems, each with something you keep.
Commercial Flow
Quotes stall and sales promises get lost before delivery.
Time to Competency
New colleagues need repeated explanations from busy people.
Bottlenecks & Rhythm
Decisions wait on one person and nobody reviews the flow.
A clear first decision for £350.
- A 60-minute working session on one workflow
- A concise written readout
- Prioritised actions for the next 90 days, each with a proposed owner
Not included: a full organisational audit, implementation work or emergency support.
Fee credited toward a 90-day sprint if you continue within 14 days. Cancellations and refunds.
Book the £350 DiagnosticWhat a readout looks like
Example Studio: why do standard quotes wait for approval?
Approval responsibility is unclear. The first action is to record ten recent quote paths and agree which decisions need escalation.
- Workflow
- Enquiry to signed quote
- Working hypothesis
- Standard quotes queue behind exceptions for the same approver
- Status
- Hypothesis until the workflow is examined with the team
Illustrative diagnostic excerpt: invented scenario, not client results.
| Area | Frequency | Impact | Evidence confidence | Next check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approval ownership | High | High | Medium | Time ten recent quotes from ready to approved |
| Missing scope inputs | Medium | High | Unknown | List the fields delivery asks for after the sale |
| Handover acceptance | Medium | Medium | Unknown | Record clarification requests for four weeks |
Illustrative diagnostic excerpt: invented scenario, not client results.
| Period | Action | Accountable role | Completion evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Days 1–14 | Timestamp ten representative quotes and list exception reasons | Commercial lead | Baseline with missing data explicitly marked |
| Days 15–30 | Trial an approval rule and mandatory scope fields | Founder or authorised delegate | Approved rule plus a completed standard and exception example |
| Days 31–60 | Trial the sales-to-delivery acceptance gate | Delivery lead | Accepted handovers and recorded clarification requests |
| Days 61–90 | Review variation, ownership and maintenance | Operations owner | Agreed next change and review date |
Illustrative diagnostic excerpt: invented scenario, not client results.
How the Diagnostic works.
| Stage | You | Aaron |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Prepare | Choose one workflow that creates delay, rework or uncertainty. | Reviews what you send and frames the questions. |
| 2. Session | Bring someone who knows how the work really moves. | Runs the 60-minute working session and maps where work waits. |
| 3. Readout | Decide what to run yourselves or scope further. | Writes the readout with priorities and proposed owners. |
Aaron Hadfield, founder
Practical discipline from enterprise work.
Aaron's background spans enterprise customer success and technical project work. In previous employed roles he worked with enterprise accounts at a global AI software company. Stance applies that practical discipline to smaller teams.
Previous role
£3M
Enterprise portfolio owned or co-managed
Previous role
£560K
Renewals across four enterprise accounts
Previous role
3 hrs → 10 mins
Weekly reporting time
Results from previous employed roles, not Stance client outcomes.
More about StanceQuestions.
Who is this for?
Founders, managing directors and delivery or customer-success leaders in UK software houses, B2B SaaS teams and agencies, usually 5 to 50 people. If you sit outside that, you can still ask about fit.
What do I get for £350?
A 60-minute working session on one workflow and a concise written readout with priorities, proposed owners and a 90-day plan.
What is out of scope?
A full audit of your organisation, implementation work and emergency support. The Diagnostic is a first decision, not a transformation programme.
What information should I share?
Describe the workflow. Please do not include confidential client, employee or security information.
What happens after the Diagnostic?
You can run the plan yourselves or continue into a scoped 90-day sprint. The fee is credited if you continue within 14 days.
Can I cancel?
Is the fit call a sales pitch?
It is a free 20-minute conversation to check whether Stance is the right help. There is no payment and no obligation.
Ask about fit.
This free enquiry is not a booking and involves no payment. Share the bottleneck and a person will review it before replying. Please do not include confidential client or employee information.
What happens next
Free resource
Vision Board
Six short questions produce a one-page 90-day board you can download and share.
Build your Vision Board