People, process, delivery and AI. Fixed properly, and measured.

About

Built from 20+ years of leading teams.

After nearly three decades running software teams, one pattern held: almost every technical or business problem turned out to be a people problem underneath. Runs on People turns that into a model you can use.

What it is

Practical help for teams: careers, people, process, delivery and AI, for managers and for the people they manage. It's built on one belief: excellent teams refuse to choose between high standards and real care. Four manager types show where you are. Nine dimensions across people, process, and product and operations show where it's showing up. Free tools measure what can be measured, and the Toast Test checks what can't. It's informed by coaches like Bill Campbell, whose lesson in Trillion Dollar Coach was that great management is about people and trust, not process alone.

Who it's for

Anyone running a team: engineering and product leaders first, and increasingly practice managers, partners, plant managers and owner-managers. The model is the same; the warning signs change by industry.

The rules

Every story is real, anonymised and composite. No employer, client or colleague is ever identifiable. We only write about an industry with someone who has worked in it. If a point can't be used by Monday, it doesn't get published.

Photography and diagrams on this site are AI-generated, and we say so. The people in the photos aren't real. The advice is written by people, from real experience.

Further reading

Runs on People stands on the shoulders of others. Three books and ideas shape it most:

  • Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle: the case for leading through people and trust.
  • Multipliers by Liz Wiseman: why some leaders make everyone smarter, and how good ones diminish by accident.
  • The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition, from Stuart and Hubert Dreyfus: why every new manager starts again as a beginner.

Work with us

Behind the site is 20+ years of leading teams and sorting out operational and business transformation properly. If you'd like help, start with a free 30-minute appraisal.

Get in touch

hello@runsonpeople.com · @runsonpeople on LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.