Lemur OS connects the financial goal, four growth engines (growth strategy, sales, marketing, product and monetisation), two foundations (data and analytics, organisation and management), a decision rhythm, and AI as the engine of change. Transformation means building and maintaining this system; projects, including AI implementations, are carried out within it and assessed against its goals.
Inputs
- Financial goals and board strategy
- Current meeting calendar and list of initiatives
- Management reports and metric definitions
- Organisational structure and decision rights
Process
- 01GoalFinancial goals for 12–36 months and 3–5 growth levers from which all initiatives follow.
- 02Growth engines and foundationsLevers in growth strategy, sales, marketing, and product and monetisation; data and organisation as the foundations that enable them to work.
- 03PrioritiesA single list of initiatives with owners and decision gates; a new initiative requires closing or pausing another one.
- 04RhythmQuarterly goals, a weekly review in teams, a monthly board review with decisions.
- 05MetricsA metrics tree from the financial result down to teams, with a single definition for every metric.
- 06People and processesDecision rights, process owners and team competencies.
- 07Engine of changeAI and automation use cases selected by their impact on growth levers.
Example application
A services company with 250–999 employees is running 14 parallel change projects. The operating system map links them to three growth levers; five projects are closed and four are merged. The monthly board review decides on the next gates based on a single report with a metrics tree.
An illustrative scenario showing how the method works.
Diagnostic questions
- How many initiatives is the company running, and how many of them have an owner, a goal and a decision date?
- In which meetings are decisions made, and what data is available in them?
- Does every team know its contribution to the company's financial goals?
Which established models is the method based on?
Lemur OS combines elements of proven models with implementation practice. Source models are listed with their authors; the method description is Lemur Media's own work.
| Model | Author and year | What we use |
|---|---|---|
| Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) | Gino Wickman, "Traction", 2007 | Management system components and meeting rhythm |
| Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits) | Verne Harnish, "Mastering the Rockefeller Habits", 2002; "Scaling Up", 2014 | Priorities, data and meeting rhythm in a growing company |
| Objectives and Key Results (OKR) | Andy Grove (Intel); popularised by John Doerr, "Measure What Matters", 2018 | Quarterly goals with measurable results |
| 7S model | Robert H. Waterman, Tom Peters, Julien R. Phillips, "Structure Is Not Organization", Business Horizons, 1980 | Alignment of strategy, structure, systems and people |
Deliverables
- One-page operating system map
- Initiative portfolio with decision gates
- Management calendar and metrics tree
Limitations of the method
Lemur OS requires the CEO's commitment: the system does not work if the board makes its most important decisions outside the agreed rhythm.