Self-check
The PPS Backbone Check: how much does your business depend on a few people?
The PPS Backbone Check is a free self-check for founder-led and family-run businesses. Pick the situation closest to yours, then mark eight statements, two on each of the four questions from our book, The 4Sync Method. It takes about three minutes. The score is worked out in your browser: nothing you mark is sent anywhere, and we don't ask for your email.
Step 2 of 2
How true is each statement today?
Mark each one as your business runs now, not as it should run. Two statements look at each part of the backbone: what lets a business run without everything going through a few people.
Rhythm
Does the week run on a rhythm, or on rescues?
Information
Does the right information reach someone able to act, in time?
Decisions
Can people decide and act without you?
Standards
Can the team produce the result without you correcting it?
Your result
0 of 24
Runs on a few people
Marks like these usually mean that much of what keeps the business moving goes through a few people, so it slows down whenever they are away. That is how most founder-led businesses grow, and it can be fixed one part at a time, starting where the strain is greatest.
Partly on systems, partly on a few people
Marks like these usually mean that some of the backbone holds and some of it still depends on a few people. The parts with the lowest scores are where work waits, gets chased or gets corrected after the fact.
Mostly on systems
Marks like these usually mean the backbone holds. The part with the lowest score is the one to watch as the business grows, since growth tests it first.
- Rhythm 0 of 6:
- Information 0 of 6:
- Decisions 0 of 6:
- Standards 0 of 6:
The most strain:The biggest gap: rhythm
Low marks here usually mean the week runs on rescues: work comes back to the owner because there is no fixed place where priorities and changes meet.
Worth looking at: where the owner's week goes, and a weekly review to start.
The most strain:The biggest gap: information
Low marks here usually mean information arrives late, or not at all: status lives in people's heads, and problems surface when a customer calls.
Worth looking at: one problem traced back to its first signal, and one plan and one set of numbers.
The most strain:The biggest gap: decisions
Low marks here usually mean decisions wait for a few people: the limits aren't written down, or nobody covers when those people are away.
Worth looking at: what reaches the owner's desk, and the first decisions to move, with written limits.
The most strain:The biggest gap: standards
Low marks here usually mean results depend on who does the work: the right way isn't written down or taught, so it gets corrected after the fact.
Worth looking at: strong work set beside work that needed fixing, and the difference written down.
No part shows strain
By your marks, every part holds. Your lowest score is for .
The plan that fits
Everything still goes through you
Six months. By week four: the first decisions off your desk, with written limits.
The first four weeks look at what reaches your desk: two weeks of the decisions and approvals that come to you, logged, with who else could take each one and within which limits.
Typical fee: ₹10 to ₹15 lakh for the whole plan, the first four weeks included, plus GST and expenses.
The plan, step by stepStart your Keep list
Before anything changes, write down what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built your business.
For this problem, it often holds:
- Your say on the big calls and the key relationships
- The speed of a quick yes to a loyal customer
- The people who have carried the business with you
The plan that fits
Growth has outrun the way work gets done
Six months. By week four: the main flow mapped, every handoff owned, the first one fixed.
The first four weeks look at your main flow end to end, often from order to cash: where work waits, who owns each handoff, and what breaks first as volume grows.
Typical fee: ₹11 to ₹17 lakh for the whole plan, the first four weeks included, plus GST and expenses.
The plan, step by stepStart your Keep list
Before anything changes, write down what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built your business.
For this problem, it often holds:
- The flexibility to say yes to a customer's unusual request
- The people who know how the work really runs
- A quick decision wherever speed wins the business
Where to start
You're taking over the family business
The successor's route: three to six months. It starts with your handover map, built privately with you.
About ₹1 lakh a month plus GST and expenses.
How the successor's route worksStart your Keep list
Before anything changes, write down what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built your business.
For this problem, it often holds:
- The founder's standing with customers, suppliers and staff
- The relationships and the trust the business was built on
- The long-serving team's place and their judgement
The plan that fits
Big projects stall halfway
Three to six months, to go-live. By week four: every project on one plan, reviewed every week.
The first four weeks look at every project in flight: owners, dates, what each one is waiting on, and the decisions stuck between them.
Typical fee: ₹10 to ₹20 lakh for the whole plan, the first four weeks included, plus GST and expenses.
The plan, step by stepStart your Keep list
Before anything changes, write down what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built your business.
For this problem, it often holds:
- Service to customers at full pace while the projects land
- The people who know the old system and the work it supports
- Vendors you trust, held to what they promised
The plan that fits
You bought the tool. Adoption stalled.
Three months, after go-live. By week four: one job running in the tool, with an owner.
The first four weeks look at how the tool is used against how the work actually runs: who uses it, what still happens outside it, and which job to move into it first.
Typical fee: ₹6 to ₹9 lakh for the whole plan, the first four weeks included, plus GST and expenses.
The plan, step by stepStart your Keep list
Before anything changes, write down what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built your business.
For this problem, it often holds:
- The shortcuts that make people good at their jobs, where they still work
- The way your best customers like to be served
- What already works in the tool
Where to start
Not sure which, or more than one?
The first four weeks cover it. The four weeks look across the business, find which problem is costing you most, and the plan starts there. Two problems become one programme.
The PPS Backbone Review: four weeks, a fixed fee of ₹1,50,000 to ₹3,50,000 plus GST and expenses.
What's includedStart your Keep list
Before anything changes, write down what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built your business.
It often holds:
- Your say on the big calls and the key relationships
- The speed of a quick yes to a loyal customer
- The people who have carried the business with you
Start with a call: 30 minutes with Rahul Kulkarni. Tell us what you marked, and we'll say plainly what we'd fix first.
Keep it that way as you grow: The 4Sync Method sets out the four questions behind the Check, with a free Excel toolkit and no signup.
What does the Check look at?
The backbone of a business: what lets it run without everything going through a few people. It has four parts, one for each question in our book, The 4Sync Method.
-
Rhythm
Does the week run on a rhythm, or on rescues?
In the book: Effort, answered by Rhythmsync.
-
Information
Does the right information reach someone able to act, in time?
In the book: Environment, answered by Infosync.
-
Decisions
Can people decide and act without you?
In the book: Support, answered by Rolesync.
-
Standards
Can the team produce the result without you correcting it?
In the book: Capability, answered by Goalsync.
Your Keep list is the other half. It holds what must not change: the culture, speed and flexibility that built the business. If a change would cost something on the list, we redesign the change.
The 4Sync Method, and its free toolkitQuestions about the Check
Is anything I mark sent to you?
No. The score is worked out in your browser, nothing you mark leaves this page, and we don't ask for your email. To keep your result, print it or save it as a PDF.
How accurate is a self-check?
It shows where to look, not a diagnosis. Eight statements can't see your numbers or your people at work. The PPS Backbone Review asks the same four questions with the people who carry the work, on site and in the numbers you already keep.
Where do the four parts come from?
From the four questions in our book, The 4Sync Method, put in plain words: rhythm (the book's Effort), information (Environment), decisions (Support) and standards (Capability). The Check asks two statements about each.
What if more than one of the five sounds like us?
Pick "Not sure, or more than one". Then the first four weeks, the PPS Backbone Review, look across the business, find which problem is costing you most, and the plan starts there. Two problems become one programme.
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Tell us two things.
What you're trying to achieve in the next 90 days, and what's breaking in execution. We'll tell you plainly what we'd fix first.
Book a discovery callFree, no obligation, and under an NDA if you prefer.
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