The Method — Engineer
The engineer phase checklist
Use this checklist to know whether Engineer is genuinely finished: if you cannot produce a causal explanation the owner agrees with, it is not.
7 min read · Reviewed by both partners
Every item below is pass or fail. Partial credit is how phases get declared complete while the business stays stuck.
The point of Engineer is finding the mechanism behind the constraint rather than its symptom. The checklist just makes that testable.
Step by step
The goal is written and it forces a change
A goal that the current operation would hit anyway is not a goal. It should make something uncomfortable.
The numbers came from your system, not an estimate
Estimates feel efficient and quietly invalidate everything downstream.
One thing is named, not five
Engineer ends with a single item. A list of five means the phase has not converged.
Somebody disagreed and was answered with evidence
Unchallenged conclusions in this phase are usually just the loudest opinion in the room.
It is written down where the team can see it
A causal explanation the owner agrees with, in a document with a date on it.
Common mistakes
Checking boxes to reach the next phase
The purpose is not to finish Engineer. It is to be right about finding the mechanism behind the constraint rather than its symptom.
Accepting ‘we already know this’
Frequently true and frequently wrong. If it is known, writing it down costs an hour and settles it.
Frequently Asked Questions
The engineer phase checklist?
Every item below is pass or fail. Partial credit is how phases get declared complete while the business stays stuck.
Does this apply the same way to every business, or does it vary by industry?
It sits under The Engineer Phase in the Growth Scaling Method. The next step for an owner is the $1,500 Assessment, which reads your own numbers against everything described above.
What does working with Growth-Scaling cost?
Four thousand five hundred dollars for the Foundation, split evenly across three deliverables. Recurring work is quoted afterward and never starts below five thousand a month.
Who works on the account?
The two founders, directly. David Mitroff, Ph.D., handles strategy; Steven Lockhart handles systems and measurement. Nothing is passed to a junior team.
References
- www.data.gov — primary source
- www.usa.gov — primary source
- www.bls.gov — primary source
Check your own Engineer against this
Most businesses fail two of the five, and always the same two.
Growth-Scaling is a marketing and business-scaling firm. It is not a licensed practitioner in any client vertical and does not provide medical, legal, financial, or contracting services; all industry content on this site is marketing and growth guidance for owners in those fields. Figures describing past engagements refer to specific businesses under specific conditions and are not a prediction of any future result. No outcome is promised.
Written by Steven Lockhart, reviewed by David Mitroff, Ph.D. Figures and regulatory details reflect the cited public sources; requirements vary by state and situation. Growth-Scaling is a marketing and business-scaling firm, not a licensed practitioner in any client vertical.