The Architect Blueprint

Start here

A board is only as good as the plan behind it.

A board that shows every number is easy to build and easy to ignore. The ones that get opened every morning start from a plan: the questions your team keeps asking, the tools that hold the answers, and what should happen when something stalls.

This is the planning sheet we work through before we build one. Six short parts, then one page that pulls it together. If you get stuck on a part, that is useful too. It shows you where your data has a gap.

1. SeeEvery number on one screen.
2. KnowA list of who needs attention.
3. ActThe follow-up starts itself.
4. ProveA count of who came back.

A board can do four things. Most tools stop at the first. Your plan decides how far up you go.

1

The questions

Start with the questions, not the tools.

Write the questions people keep asking you. The ones that send someone digging through three tools to answer.

Questions we keep getting asked

Circle the two you would check every morning. Those go at the top of your board.

2

The tools

List every tool that holds part of the answer.

Your CRM, your email tool, your store, your ad accounts. Write what each one knows.

A tool can connect if it has an API or a connector. Not sure? Write "not sure" and we will check it for you.

3

The stages

Name the steps from first touch to customer.

Write the steps a person moves through, in order. Under each one, write which tool knows when they get there.

Our steps

Put a star where people stall most. That is where your Needs a nudge list starts.

4

The trail

Check that the trail survives the trip.

When someone clicks an ad, the link carries three labels: the campaign, the source, and the ad. For a board to show what is working, all three have to reach the tool your board reads.

1. Ad linkcarries the labels
2. Formhidden fields
3. CRMsaved on contact
4. Email toolfield mapping
5. Boardwhat is working

Trail check

5

The nudge

Decide what "gone quiet" means.

The second level of a board is a list of who needs attention. To build it, you have to say what quiet means for your business, and what should happen next.

Our rule

Someone has gone quiet when days pass without

When that happens, we want to

One way to set it up: three messages, then a person.

1. Day 0Message 1 goes out
2. Day 5Message 2
3. Day 10Message 3
4. Day 14No action? A task for a person

6

Who sees what

Decide who sees which numbers.

Some numbers are for the whole team. Some are for owners only. Decide now, so the board is built with the right doors.