Should you hire someone or build a system first?
Most founders hire when they are drowning. Sometimes that is right. Often it just moves the problem to a new desk.
By Kiran Rubab
3 minute read
Build the system first when the work is repetitive, rule based and already understood. Hire first when the work needs judgement, relationships or skills you do not have. Most founders get this backwards: they hire a person to absorb the chaos, and the person inherits the chaos instead of fixing it.
Why do founders default to hiring?
Hiring feels like progress. A new person on the team is visible, immediate and easy to explain. A system is invisible until it works, and it asks the founder to think about how the business runs rather than who runs it.
But hiring into an undesigned process has a predictable outcome. The new hire spends their first three months asking the founder how things are done, because nothing is written down. The founder is now paying a salary and still answering every question.
What questions tell you which to do first?
Ask these four questions about the work you want to hand off.
- Does this happen the same way every time? If yes, it is a system candidate.
- Could you write the rules on one page? If yes, a system will follow them more reliably than a person.
- Does it need a conversation, a relationship or a judgement call? If yes, it needs a person.
- Would the person be doing this from scratch, or following a process? If there is no process, build one before you hire, or the hire will build their own and you will not know what it is.
A surprising amount of founder work answers yes to the first two questions. That work should be systemised, not delegated.
What happens when you hire before the system exists?
Three things, usually in this order.
- The new hire works the way they worked at their last job, which may not be your way.
- The founder is still involved because only they know the exceptions.
- When the hire leaves, the process leaves with them, and you are back to square one.
Building the system first means the hire steps into something that already works, learns it in days, and improves it rather than inventing it.
When is hiring clearly the right call?
Hire first when:
- The work needs a skill you do not have and cannot learn quickly, such as design, sales or a technical specialism
- Clients need a named person to talk to, and it cannot be you any longer
- The volume is so high that even a perfect system needs someone to run it
- You have tried to systemise it and it keeps needing human judgement
Even then, write the process before the person starts. A two page guide to how the job works saves weeks of onboarding.
What does a good first hire look like in a systemised business?
Someone who runs systems rather than replaces them. An operations person or a senior account lead who can own the rhythm, review the outputs and improve the process. Their job description reads very differently from the "do everything the founder cannot" role most small businesses post first, and the person who fits it stays longer because the job is coherent.
What is the cost of getting it wrong?
A wrong hire in an undesigned business costs a year of salary, three months of the founder's attention and, often, the departure of a good person who was set up to fail. A wrong system costs a few days of rebuilding. Given the difference, it is worth building first almost every time the work allows it.
A quick test for your next role
Before you write the job description, list every task the role would do. Beside each, write S for system, R for rule, or P for person. If the list is mostly S and R, you are about to hire someone to be a process. Build the process, then decide whether the P items alone justify a role. Often they justify a smaller one, or a contractor, or nothing yet.
What is the practical sequence?
For most service businesses the order that works is: design the process, automate what can be automated, then hire for what remains. The hire is smaller, cheaper and more effective because they are running a system rather than becoming one.
If you are not sure which side of the line your business sits on, book a call. Thirty minutes is usually enough to see it clearly.
