When CEOs Should Be Involved

or "Two meetings every CEO should ask for"

My friend, Nick Francis, the CEO of HelpScout, posted something last week I love and want to share. It’s a simple framework for product development, but it applies way beyond product. It’s about alignment, speed, and quality. And it’s something every leadership team should be doing.

They call it the First Ten / Last Ten approach.

It comes from a post by Stewart Butterfield about how Slack built product, and Nick explained how they’ve turned it into a ritual that helps their team move faster and work smarter. Here’s the idea:

The First Ten is the first 10 percent of the work. This is where you slow down to go fast. You talk strategy. Goals. Why now. What problem are we solving? Who’s it for? What does success look like? Who’s working on it, and what do they need to get it done? This is when CEOs should be involved. Not reviewing a doc after weeks of progress, but helping shape the intent while the team is still open and adaptable.

Then comes the Middle 80 percent. That’s where the team runs. They build, test, collaborate, and adjust. This is the execution phase. The CEO shouldn’t be in the way. You’re not adding value by popping in with random opinions. You build trust and speed by letting the team work.

Then you come back in for The Last Ten. That final 10 percent before launch. This is where you zoom in and get sharp. You check quality. You challenge assumptions. You look at copy, design, UX, and logic. You ask the hard questions. And most importantly, you do it early enough that changes can actually be made. Not the night before launch. Not when everything’s locked.

I learned this one the hard way. I used to give feedback too late, when teams were already stressed and proud of their work. That never went well. But when I got involved earlier, when we still had time to make the work better, everyone won. The team felt supported. The product got sharper. And I felt like I was doing my job really well.

This framework gives you that rhythm. Start with clarity. End with accountability. Let the team own the middle.

Kudos to Nick and the HelpScout team for sharing it.

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