There are no shortcuts at a startup. It’s consistent hard work over time.

Here’s the thing though…

Having internal clarity on:

• what the work is
• who is doing it
• when it will be done

...can 5x ¹ your company’s pace and effectiveness without changing anything else!

If you’ve ever said:

Me?!? I thought you were going to do it.

What came out of that awesome brainstorm session?

I feel like we have good meetings but nothing comes of it...

You need 3D:

• 📝 Do
• 🙋 DRI
• 📅 Date

The 3D Formula

Start here

After every meeting —formal or informal — ask a single question:

What are next steps?

1. **DO** Identify action items

• Be specific!
• Include numbers
• ✅ Send personal email to 10 customers for December user group

2. **DRI** Ask who will be the Directly Responsible Individual per item

• Also called “owner” or “point person”
• Only 1 DRI per item. 2 DRIs = no DRIs
• ✅ Send personal email to 10 customers for December user group (Kathryn)

3. **DATE** Ask DRI for due date

• Always add buffer
• No, really. It will take 2x longer than you think.
• ✅ Send personal email to 10 customers for December user group by Nov 15 (Kathryn)

Extra Credit

Pause. Reflect on your 3D list.

Think about overall company priorities.

• Are these action items important?
• Should DRIs prioritize this over other work?
• Do these dates make sense given other company timelines?

😊 YES → Proceed. Enjoy the progress and clarity!

🙁 NO → Scrap everything without hesitation. You may have wasted time with this meeting but don’t make it worse. Get back to important things!

3D Recap:

• 📝 Do
• 🙋 DRI
• 📅 Date

Quick, simple, game-changing.

If you’re an early stage startup that wants to go faster, try this alignment and clarity tip. Let me know how it goes or if you’re one of the magical startups already doing it!

‍

¹ Estimated. Could be 2x, 10x, 1000x. No time to collect official data when we implemented this at Rigor and Pardot. We were moving too fast 😉