PROCESS

Here is How to Build

Design

Principles

What running is

By the time a change is run, the building is done. The process has been seen, designed, signed, and prepared. The work of the leader, the heavy work of making the change, is largely finished and tested. Running is where the prepared change goes live and becomes the way the process actually works.

This is the moment a change stops being a change. Until now it has been something built, an idea, a design, an approved plan, a readied set of parts. At go-live it crosses over and becomes the running process, the way the work is now done. So running has two faces. It is running the change, taking live the work of all the prior disciplines. And it is running the process, keeping the change going, day after day, until the next change comes. Running spans both: the going live, and the keeping it running until something supersedes it.

It is worth distinguishing two things that can look similar. A small pilot, where a few people are trained to run the process in its final form to see that it holds, is not running the change. It is part of preparing. Its impact is small, it can be corrected freely as it goes, often a single real case is enough to reveal a fix, and no new sign-off is needed to change it. It is a sample, run to verify the process holds before anything goes live. A market-wide rollout is different. There, a complete unit goes live for real. Even if that unit is a small part of the whole, it is a rollout, not a pilot, because the entire unit is now running the change. Changes to it are no longer free corrections but governed, because the process is live. The line is not the size. It is whether a sample is being tested, or a complete unit is running for real.

The highest possible standard is to understand running as the crossing-over where the prepared change goes live and becomes the running process, and to carry it from go-live through to the next change, keeping it running all the while.

Key Takeaway: By the time a change is run, the building is done; the process has been seen, designed, signed, and prepared. Running is where the prepared change goes live and becomes the way the work is now done. It has two faces: running the change, taking the prior disciplines live, and running the process, keeping it going until the next change. A small pilot, a sample run to verify the process holds, is part of preparing; a market-wide rollout, a complete unit running for real, is running.

Running is where a change stops being a change and becomes the way the work is done.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · Section: What running is

MarvinPro | June 2026

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Going live

Going live is the act of taking the prepared change into reality. On the live date, everything and everyone is ready, the access, the systems, the people, the partners, the communication, the training. Everyone knows what to do. And everyone knows who to contact if something does not work as it should.

The decision to go live was not made on go-live day. It was made when preparing confirmed readiness and committed the date, and that was done well in advance, at least a month before, so the date could be announced and cascaded through the organisation, and at the latest a couple of weeks before. The reason is trust. So many people are mobilised for a go-live that to ready them all and then not go live is a serious failure, and one an organisation can only absorb so many times. So the date, once committed, is held. Go-live day is not where you decide whether to go. It is where you execute a decision already made and held. A change that holds its date this way is one that was made to hold: the right teams consulted and signed off on what each owns, so that what could have surfaced on the day was resolved long before it. Where a required team would not sign off, there was no date until the matter was resolved, by redesigning the change to meet the objection, or by raising it to those with the authority to decide. The date exists only because everything that had to be agreed was agreed.

How a go-live looks depends on the size of the change. A small change goes live quietly. The team simply begins to work the new way, and little needs to be made of it. A large change is different. The documentation must be live and available before or at the start, whether a team was asked to publish it in preparing, or the leader sees to it. For a large change there is often a further communication at go-live, telling people the change is now in effect. Such communication comes in levels: a broad announcement across the organisation, and a more detailed message to the teams and departments who must act on it, carrying the steps they need. Where there is a team to do this, it was asked for in preparing. Where there is not, the leader sends it, often at the end of the work day before the live date, so people meet the change as they begin. And for a large change, there may be an event built around it, to mark the moment, to gather and reassure the people, and to give the change momentum.

The highest possible standard is to go live on a date decided and held well in advance, with everything ready, everyone knowing what to do and who to contact, and to scale the going-live to the size of the change, quiet for a small one, marked and communicated for a large one.

Key Takeaway: Going live takes the prepared change into reality, on a date decided not on the day but well in advance, announced and cascaded, and then held, because mobilising people and not going live is a serious, unrepeatable failure. Go-live day executes a decision already made. The change holds its date because it was made to hold, the right teams consulted and signed off, with no date until every required agreement was in. Going-live scales with the change: quiet for a small one; documentation live, communication in levels, and perhaps an event for a large one.

Go-live day is not where you decide to go. It is where you execute a decision made and held since long before.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · Section: Going live

MarvinPro | June 2026

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Be present and available

Once the change is live, the leader's role changes. The building is done, and the team now performs the new way. The leader is no longer driving the work forward; the leader is there for it. The posture shifts from doing to being available.

Being available means being on hand for what was not foreseen. However well a change is prepared, reality brings what no plan anticipated, and the leader is the one who can respond, decide, and adjust when it does. So in the early life of a change, the leader stays reachable and ready, not buried in other work, present to the change that has just gone live. For a system change, the leader can often see directly whether it is working. If it works, it works, and there is little to do but watch and remain available. For a change in how people work, being available means being there as the team finds its feet in the new way.

For a large change, presence means more than being reachable. It can be worth the leader being physically there, on-site, at go-live, even when there is no task for them to do. The people are performing something new, and the leader's presence steadies them. It says the leader has not handed the change over and walked away, but stands with the team at the moment it becomes real. That presence is a kind of support that has nothing to do with solving problems and everything to do with the people. A leader who is there when the change goes live carries the team through the first uncertain hours in a way no message can.

The highest possible standard is to shift, once live, from driving the work to being available for it, on hand for what was not foreseen, and to be present with the people, in person for a large change, so that the leader's presence steadies them as they take up the new way.

Key Takeaway: Once live, the leader's role changes from driving the work to being available for it. The team now performs the new way; the leader stays reachable and ready for what no plan anticipated, and for a system change can often verify directly that it works. For a large change, presence means being there in person at go-live, even with no task to do, because the leader's presence steadies the people as they perform something new and shows the leader stands with them.

Once it is live, the leader's work is not to drive but to be there: available for the unforeseen, and present for the people.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · Section: Be present and available

MarvinPro | June 2026

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Let the team perform, and keep it running

A live change is performed by the team, not by the leader. The leader prepared it; now the people do it. So the work of keeping it running is, first, to let the team perform, and then to see that the new way is genuinely taken up and held.

The team is expected to follow the new way. For a simple change, they were told what it is and are expected to do it; for a complex one, they follow the documentation prepared for them. Sometimes the new way is the only way available, because the old path has been switched off, and then adoption is not in question, the work can only be done the new way. Where the old path remains possible, adoption rests on the people, and it is owned through their managers. The team managers, or those responsible for quality, are accountable that their team uses the new method; their managers are accountable for the rate at which their teams take it up. Where the change is a way of working, this adoption is confirmed through the managers' reporting that their teams are using what was prepared. Where it is a system, it can often be seen directly. The leader does not force this team by team; the leader prepared it well and now supports it, while the line carries the accountability, and where a team does not take it up, it is raised through that line.

Keeping it running also means watching it run. For an owner, this is not a special exercise stood up for the go-live; it is the continuation of owning the process, which is monitored, reported on, and budgeted for as a matter of ownership. After a change, the owner watches the changed process as they always watched it, more closely at first. How closely, and over what span, depends on the change. Some changes are watched in the first hours and days, when their effect shows at once. Others can only be judged over a longer period, by comparing a stretch of time after the change with the same stretch before. The means of watching is often built in: cases can be categorised by stage, so that each one can be followed precisely and the whole flow seen at a glance. There is always ownership behind a running change. Where the leader is the owner, they carry it on. Where the leader ran the change as an assignment, for their skill, the real owner is among the stakeholders, in the room throughout, and is the one who follows up once the change is live.

The highest possible standard is to let the team perform the new way, to see that it is genuinely taken up, through the old path being closed, or through the managers who are accountable for their teams' adoption, and to keep watching the running change as an extension of owning it.

Key Takeaway: A live change is performed by the team, not the leader. The team is expected to follow the new way, told for a simple change, by the documentation for a complex one, and sometimes the old path is closed so the new way is the only way. Where adoption rests on people, it is owned through the managers, accountable for their teams using the method and for the rate of uptake, confirmed by their reports or seen in the system. Keeping it running means watching it, as an extension of owning the process, closely at first and over the span the change calls for.

A live change is the team's to perform. The leader's part is to let them, to see it taken up, and to keep watching it run.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · Section: Let the team perform, and keep it running

MarvinPro | June 2026

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Respond to the outliers

When the building is done, the team performing, and the change taken up, the leader's active work narrows to one thing: the outliers. Most cases now flow through the prepared process as intended. What needs the leader is the case that does not fit.

An outlier is a case the prepared process does not quite hold. The leader's task is to respond to it and to judge what it needs. Sometimes it needs something different, a one-off handling, or an adjustment that feeds back into how the process runs. And sometimes it needs nothing different at all. A case that pushes against the change, asking for the old way back, is answered by holding the new way and explaining it, not by bending the process. The judgement is the work: to tell the outlier that reveals a real gap from the one that is simply resistance to a change properly made. The first may change something; the second is met by standing on the change.

This is also where running hands over to what comes next. The outliers that need fixing, the small things that only live use reveals, are tended in the period of close support that follows a go-live, where those doing the work and those responsible for each part are directly connected, and quick fixes and adjustments are made while the change settles. Run carries the change live and keeps it running; the tending of what surfaces is the discipline that follows. Between them, the change beds in, and becomes simply how the work is done, until the next change begins the cycle again.

The highest possible standard is to respond to the outliers with judgement, giving a real gap the change it needs and meeting mere resistance by holding the new way, and to pass what needs tending to the close support that lets the change settle.

Key Takeaway: Once the change is taken up, the leader's active work narrows to the outliers, the cases the prepared process does not quite hold. The task is to respond and judge what each needs: sometimes a one-off handling or an adjustment, sometimes nothing different, as when a case asks for the old way back and is answered by holding the new way and explaining it. What needs fixing passes to the close support that follows go-live, where the change is tended until it settles and becomes simply how the work is done.

Most cases flow through. The leader's work is the ones that do not, and the judgement of what each truly needs.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · Section: Respond to the outliers

MarvinPro | June 2026

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A real example

A leader changed the promise made to customers about a product. Where before, if the product was unavailable for a time, the customer was given a replacement, the new promise was to refund the amount the customer had paid, for each day they were without it. It was a less generous promise than the replacement. But the old promise had become more than the organisation could carry, and the change saved enough to let it survive.

A change to a promise of this kind touches many parts, and it was made to hold. The terms and conditions were updated. The teams who owned each part were brought in and consulted, those responsible for the offer, for legal, for communication, for operations, and the leadership above them, each signing off what was theirs to sign or being kept informed as the matter required. This was the larger part of the work, and it was what made the change watertight. Had any of these withheld their agreement, there would have been no live date until the matter was resolved, by reshaping the change to meet the concern, or by raising it to those with the authority to settle it. Only when all that had to be agreed was agreed did the change have a date. This depends, of course, on there being teams who carry such knowledge and judgement. A smaller organisation may not have them, and then the same wisdom is sought from outside, so that the change can still be made to hold rather than left to chance.

The customers were told a month in advance. Those who received the communication were given a link and told where on the site they could download the form they would need. When the live date came, the change went into effect. The old path, ordering a replacement, was switched off, so the new way was the only way the work could be done. The staff performed it, informing customers of the new promise, including those who had not seen the communication and did not yet know. The process itself was unhurried by design: a customer could complete the form only once the situation was resolved and the exact time without the product was known; the completed form was then checked, and if it was correct, the refund was set in motion. Each case carried new categories for the refund and for its stages, so that every one could be followed precisely and the whole flow watched as it ran.

The outliers were the customers who demanded a replacement, pointing to the terms as they had been. They were met not by bending the change but by holding it: informed, politely, that the terms had been updated, and that the change had been communicated a month before. Because the change had been made properly and announced in good time, the staff could stand on it. The flow ran, the cases moved through their stages, the refunds went out, and within a couple of months what had been a new and difficult promise was simply how the work was done.

A change can be less than customers would wish and still be right, if it is necessary and made to hold. What makes it hold is that everyone who must agree has agreed, before there is ever a date.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · A real example

MarvinPro | June 2026

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Run

Running is where the prepared change goes live and becomes the way the work is done. By this point the building is finished and tested; the process has been seen, designed, signed, and prepared. Running takes it live and keeps it running, from go-live through to the next change. A small pilot, a sample run to see that the process holds, belongs to preparing; a complete unit going live for real is running.

Going live takes the change into reality on a date decided and held well in advance, not chosen on the day, because mobilising people and then not going live is a serious and unrepeatable failure. The change holds its date because it was made to hold, the right teams consulted and signed off on what each owns, with no date until every required agreement was in. At go-live everything is ready, everyone knows what to do and who to contact, and the going-live scales with the change: quiet for a small one; documentation live, communication in levels, and perhaps an event for a large one. Once live, the leader shifts from driving the work to being available for it, on hand for the unforeseen, and present with the people, in person for a large change, because that presence steadies them as they take up the new way.

The change is then performed by the team, not the leader. They are expected to follow the new way, and sometimes the old path is closed so it is the only way. Where adoption rests on people, it is owned through the managers, accountable for their teams using the method and for the rate of uptake, confirmed by their reports or seen in the system. Keeping it running means watching it, as an extension of owning the process, closely at first and over the span the change calls for. And the leader's active work narrows to the outliers, the cases the prepared process does not quite hold, responding to each with judgement: an adjustment where there is a real gap, and a firm holding of the new way where there is only resistance to a change properly made. What needs fixing passes to the close support that follows, where the change is tended until it settles.

You can now run a prepared change. You take it live on a held date, with everything ready and everyone clear; you step back from driving to being available and present; you let the team perform the new way and see it taken up, through a closed path or through the managers who own its adoption; you keep watching it as an extension of owning it; and you meet the outliers with judgement. The process is seen, designed, signed, prepared, and now run. From the leader's own side, the heavy lifting is done. If it goes as planned, a quieter time comes, to take back the hours and days that were given, and to recover before the next project. Or, if the change was a small one, simply to carry on to the next. What remains is to tend what the running reveals, until the change has fully settled into the way the work is done.

What is run well becomes invisible: simply how the work is done. Take it live on a held date, let the team perform it, watch it run, and meet the outliers with judgement. Then take back the quiet you have earned.

MarvinPro · PROCESS · Here is How to Build · Design · Principles · Discipline 6: Run · Chapter Outcome

MarvinPro | June 2026

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