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Introduction
to the Framework

The Framework page gives the overview: the dependency structure, the layer logic, the gate criteria. This page is where each layer gets its full expression.

Every article here treats a specific structural pattern in depth. Some map directly to a CPL layer — an article on POC failure is a Layer 2 treatment, an article on growth metrics is a Layer 1 diagnostic. Others cut across layers, examining dynamics like burnout, feedback, or operating model design that surface differently depending on where in the dependency structure an organisation is working.

These are not blog posts. They're diagnostic reference material. When I'm working with a founder or a corporate innovation team, I'll often point them to a specific article as preparation for our next session. The article does the conceptual work; the session does the applied diagnostic.

Framework Overview

Critical Path Layers: A Dependency Map for Innovation

8 February 2026
The full articulation of the framework: why innovation work follows a dependency structure, and what happens when you skip layers. Tags: Framework overview · All layers

Layer 1: Market Clarity

The Growth Metrics Everyone Tracks — That Don't Actually Drive Growth
5 December 2025
A playbook for founders and PE teams on replacing vanity metrics with measurements that track actual commercial traction at the market clarity layer.

Layer 2: Validation

Why Your POC Succeeded and Still Failed
26 January 2026
The proof-of-concept that hit every technical milestone and died in procurement. A structural diagnosis of why pilots fail at the organisational layer.


Cross-cutting Themes

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  • The performance standards that create burnout are structural, not personal. What a television show about a restaurant understands that most workplaces don't.
    Read more here

  • The structural reason most feedback doesn't change behaviour, and the single diagnostic question that does.

    Read more here

  • If you had to build a VC operating function from scratch today, what would you do differently?
    A structural argument for why the conventional operating model fails.

    Read more here