FTL Masterclasses

About this Series

These FTL masterclasses give you simple, proven processes you can put to work this week. Each one is designed for copy and paste adoption in real teams, with a clear outcome and a way to measure it.

• Clear steps you can teach in under an hour
• Templates you can turn into SOPs and checklists
• Language that works across engineering, product, and ops

How to use: roll out one masterclass each month, share this page with the team, then capture your version as an SOP in your wiki or tool of choice.

5D Software Delivery Process: From Idea to Impact Without Skipping a Step

Overview: The 5D Process is a structured method for delivering software that works. It gives you a clear path through every stage, so you can move quickly when needed but never skip the essentials that keep projects on track.

• Define: Lock in the problem, scope, success measures, and stakeholders.
• Design: Choose the right approach, architecture, and user experience.
• Develop: Build with quality, visibility, and accountability baked in.
• Deploy: Deliver to production safely, with rollback and monitoring in place.
• Drive: Keep momentum post launch adoption, iteration, and learning.

Quick rule: You can go fast, but you can’t skip a stage. Every “D” builds on the last.

Why It Matters: Without a process, delivery is guesswork. The 5D Process turns it into a reliable, repeatable path from idea to impact.

SOP the Right Way: Creating Procedures People Follow and Scale With

Overview: An SOP is only valuable if people follow it and it scales as the business evolves. Learn how to create SOPs that are clear, practical, and built to adapt as AI and automation enter more workflows.

• Write SOPs that are quick to read and easy to follow.
• Structure for purpose, steps, and success checks that are obvious.
• Make SOPs easy to find and apply in real time.
• Design SOPs that scale with your team, processes, and tools.
• Update SOPs for AI-assisted or automated steps without rework.

Why It Matters: Well-written SOPs reduce errors, speed onboarding, and make scaling smoother. As AI takes on more tasks, SOPs keep humans and technology aligned.

Buckets, Blocks, and Boxes: A Role-Based System for Owning Your Week

Overview: Allocate time by role or role group, lock in when that work happens, and make every session outcome-driven. This ensures all your responsibilities whether technical, strategic, or operational get the attention they deserve.

• Buckets: Define your roles or group related roles (e.g., Coder, Architect, Mentor).
• Blocks: Set fixed, recurring times for each bucket non-negotiable appointments with that role.
• Boxes: Within blocks, run short, focused sessions with a single clear outcome.
• Shift time between roles when priorities change.
• Avoid context switching and maintain focus.

Why It Matters: Without role-based planning, urgent work crowds out important work. This system makes sure every role is seen and every session ends with results.

Extract and Collapse: Build the Right Team, Do the Right Work

Overview: Leaders often keep work they should hand off and run with reporting lines that don’t match reality. Use Extract to free capacity and justify new roles. Use Collapse to clarify ownership and reporting so the team scales without chaos.

• Extract: Find work you can remove from your plate or someone else’s, measure the gain, and use it to fund a new role.
• Collapse: Virtually collapse the org chart to see natural alignments, then set reporting lines that remove bottlenecks.
• Align team shape with strategy and flow of work.
• Communicate changes so the team understands the why.

Why It Matters: When leaders hold the wrong work, growth stalls. When reporting lines fight the work, delivery slows. Extract and Collapse helps you build and balance the team so people do the right work at the right level.

Ready to take the next step?

Book a call today to explore how these masterclasses can work in your team.