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Operating model stages

Intake & triage

How we capture a signal, qualify it against a sponsor and a measurable problem, and decide whether to pursue.

Published
Owner · Director, InnovationUpdated · 2026-07-19

Purpose

Intake exists to protect the pipeline. Every signal we accept costs Accelerator time we can't spend on something else, so this stage answers one question: is this a real opportunity with a real sponsor and a measurable problem — or is it a workshop dressed up as a bet?

Entry
A named sponsor and a measurable business problem.
Artifact
Signal brief.
Gate
Triaged: pursue, park, or route.

Activities

  • Sponsor conversation. Record it. Ask about the business problem, not the requested feature. Ask what changes if this works.
  • Run the Ramble Refiner. Turn the raw transcript into a shaped signal — problem statement, users, desired outcome, current workaround, why now.
  • Score against pursue criteria. Named executive sponsor. Measurable operating metric. A real user we can put a prototype in front of within two weeks.
  • Write the signal brief. One page. Problem, sponsor, target metric, first hypothesis, first user to talk to.
  • Land the triage decision. Pursue (create a Compass card in Discovery), park (log it with why), or route (send it to a better home — Product, Platform, or an existing team).

Common failure mode

Accepting a solution instead of a problem
Sponsors often arrive with a feature idea, not a problem. If you can't restate the request as a measurable business problem with a named user, don't advance it. Park it and offer to reopen once the sponsor can articulate the outcome.

Supporting tools