gtm-operating-cadence

# Operating Cadence The meeting structure that worked at 30 people collapses at 100. What worked at 100 collapses at 300. The failure mode is always the same: too many people in too many meetings making too few decisions. ## When to Use **Triggers:** - "Our meetings don't produce decisions" - "We're growing but alignment is getting worse" - "How often should we meet?" - "Nobody knows what's happening across functions" - "Decisions take forever" - "Leadership is in meetings all day" **Context:** - Companies scaling from 20 to 300+ people - Post-PMF through growth stage - Distributed / remote teams - Any stage where "we need to talk about this" has become the default --- ## Core Frameworks ### 1. The Five-Level Meeting Architecture **The Pattern:** Different meetings serve different purposes. Conflating them creates either inefficiency (too much time) or confusion (unclear decisions). Separate meetings by function, frequency, and decision authority. **Level 1: Daily Standup (15 min, teams only)** - What we finished yesterday, what we're starting today, what's blocking us - 5-10 people max. Whole-company standups are theater - Anti-pattern: Status reporting (use Slack, not meetings) - Anti-pattern: Strategic discussion (wrong time, wrong place) - Success criteria: Finishes in 15 minutes, surfaces 1-2 blockers **Level 2: Weekly Functional Reviews (60 min, function leadership)** Each function gets its own weekly rhythm: - Product team Friday 4pm: metrics, user feedbac...