QUESTIONS FOUNDERS ASK
How do I get what is in my head written down for the team?
By Ivanka Menken, Strategic Mentor·Updated
Ivanka Menken starts with the questions that come back to the founder every week, not with a manual. Each repeated question hides a rule the founder applies without saying it. Write that rule in a few lines, name who owns it, and send the next question to the page instead of answering it again.
Why does the business run on the founder's judgement?
Because the founder made every early decision and never needed to write the reasons down. As the team grows, those unwritten rules become the reason everything still comes back to one person. It feels like the team needs you; often they need what you know.
Where should you start?
- For two weeks, note every question that comes to you more than once.
- Pick the one that costs you the most time.
- Write the rule you apply when you answer it, in plain words, on one page.
- Name the person who owns that rule from now on.
Why not write the whole operations manual at once?
Because a big manual is rarely finished and even more rarely read. One rule a fortnight, each tied to a real question and a named owner, builds something the team actually uses. Over six months that is a dozen of the decisions that most tie the business to the founder.
How does this connect to single-person risk?
Ivanka's 30-day absence test asks what would break if the founder were gone for a month, and on which day. The answers are usually the unwritten rules. Writing them down and handing them over is how a business that stops without its founder becomes one that keeps running.
How do you know it is working?
The same question stops reaching you. When it does arrive, the person asking has already checked the page. Rerunning the 30-day absence test at month 3 and month 6 shows how much has moved.
How does Ivanka work on this?
This is part of the single-person-risk shift inside Ivanka's 1:1 Mentoring and her Letting-Go Mentoring.
What else do founders ask about this?
What if my judgement cannot be written down?
Most of it can be written down more than founders expect. Ivanka Menken suggests writing down the questions you ask yourself before you decide, not only the answer. Where judgement really is needed, the page can say who decides and what they should weigh, which is still far better than every case coming back to you.
Who should write it, me or the team?
Ivanka Menken usually has the founder explain the rule and the person who will own it write it down. That way the page is in the team's words, the new owner understands it, and the founder checks it once rather than drafting it.
How long does it take?
In Ivanka Menken's six-month mentoring, founders usually hand over one dependency each fortnight. Writing the rule down is part of that handover. A dozen of the questions that come back most can be moved in six months, and the 30-day absence test is run again at month 3 and month 6 to check.
Is this the same as documenting processes?
It overlaps, but the starting point is different. Process documentation often begins with how work flows. Ivanka Menken begins with the decisions that still need the founder, because those are what keep the business tied to one person.