AGENTON.

Removing Noise to Build Excellence

Why This Exists

At Agenton, we have often progressed in "spikes"—periods of high output followed by slumps caused by ad-hoc iterations and unfinished tasks. We must avoid these slumps because constant achievement is the primary driver of motivation. When we keep our eyes on the ball and reach our goals, the team stays energized. When we drift into a state of "perpetual unfinishedness," motivation dies.

Signal

The 2–3 critical goals that move the company forward.

Noise

Distractions, technical "rabbit holes," and acting on beliefs instead of facts.

How to Identify Signal vs. Noise?

Before starting any task, ask these three questions:

If the answer to any of these is "No", it is Noise.

"People think focus means saying yes to the thing you've got to focus on. But that's not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are."

  • ✓ Jobs believed peak performance requires pruning the "trivial many".
  • ✓ The goal: 80% of your time spent on the most critical "Signal".
Leadership Principles
Signal Critical message/action for success.
Noise Irrelevant distractions.
Scott Mautz on Jobs Coach Cynthia
The Pillars
0.

Professional Reliability & Fact-Based Culture

Our objective is to move away from amateur spikes and toward professional consistency. We aim to reach a state where "it works" isn't a guess, but a verified fact.

Warning

We do not allow ourselves to be lulled into saying "I think it works" or "I believe the issue is X." Beliefs without evidence lead us down the wrong paths. In this company, we only navigate by facts. If you don't have the data, you don't have a conclusion.

1.

Delivery Owner: The Guardian of the Result

We do not operate with "shared responsibility," which is just a fancy way of saying nobody is responsible. Every account, feature, or delivery has a Delivery Owner.

  • What Ownership Means The Delivery Owner is the person who ensures the Win. You can be the doer or the delegator, but you own the outcome. You don't just "report" a problem; you own the solution until it is shipped.
  • Demanding Completion Ownership means having the authority and the duty to demand that things get finished. You do not accept excuses from yourself or others—you demand the "Done" state.
2.

The Ford Standard: Persistence Over "Impossible"

Henry Ford once tasked his engineers with creating the V8 engine—a single casting that everyone said was impossible. They kept at it because they had no choice, and eventually, they figured it out. At Agenton, we engineer the result through persistence.

Historical Log: Ford Engineering Lab
Engineer
"We've tried everything. Casting the entire block in one piece is physically impossible with current methods. The technology just isn't there yet."
Henry Ford
"I understand your belief, but I need the result. Go back and stay on the job until you succeed."
"Don't come back to tell me it's impossible; come back to tell me how you solved it."
RESULT: INNOVATION ACHIEVED
3.

The Idea Bank: Protecting Execution

New ideas are vital, but they cannot distract us from the current mission. We capture them without letting them derail us.

💡
Spark/Idea
Slack Channel #on-stupid-ideas
The Parking Lot
🗓️
Monthly Defrost
  • Distraction Protocol If you have a new idea or see a "shiny" tech update, post it to #on-stupid-ideas immediately to get it out of your head.
  • Current Product Ideas If an idea relates to the current product but isn't part of this week's plan, we bring it to the next goal-setting meeting. Do not pivot mid-week.
  • The Monthly Defrost We review the Idea Bank once a month to decide what becomes a future Signal.
4.

Definition of Done (DoD)

The Discomfort Zone

We eliminate the "half-finished" feeling by being brutal about what constitutes "Done." To ensure a problem never recurs, we push ourselves into the discomfort zone of verification.

The Standard REQ

A task is only DONE when:

  1. Root cause identified
  2. Fix implemented
  3. Stress test passed
No Guesswork BAN

We do not close tasks based on a "hunch." If you haven't proven it works under pressure with facts, you aren't done.

5.

Planned Execution: Agility Within Discipline

We plan the work, then work the plan. Our planning is a compass, not a cage.

Monday Protocol
Define Achievements

Agree on exactly what we will reach by Friday. No vague goals.

Daily Morning Protocol
  • 1. What to achieve today?
  • 2. How do we get there?
  • 3. Assign tasks.
" We plan our core goals strictly but leave specific bandwidth for the ad-hoc nature of our tech and the evolution of AI. We are disciplined enough to finish what we started, but agile enough to adapt the *how* as we go.

Case Example: Operating the Agenton Way

The Noise Way

🤔 The Belief Trap

A delivery is failing. The team says, "I believe the API is slow today." They spend the day hoping it gets better while looking at new AI models on the side.

RESULT: By 4 PM, nothing has changed, the belief was wrong, and the ball is dropped.
The Signal Way

🎯 The Delivery Owner

A delivery is failing. The Delivery Owner immediately looks at the logs (Facts). They identify the specific bottleneck. They ignore all other distractions and follow the planned steps to fix it.

RESULT: They don't stop until 10 successful tests are completed. Win achieved.