Sergii Malomuzh is a founder of two companies: Rewmp, a private venture fund, and Rewump, a business incubator. Follow on LinkedIn.
When you ask your top team members what “efficiency” means, be ready for surprisingly diverse answers. It’s a common situation in early-stage startups; everyone has their own idea of efficiency, but no one shares a clear definition with each other. People work on the same product but with different approaches.
Sure, you can use various methodologies like Kanban or Agile, but they’re often viewed as planning and reporting tools rather than real efficiency boosters. As a result, everyone wants to be more efficient, but no one knows exactly how to achieve it.
In my experience, I’ve come to find a system that helped boost our organization’s efficiency. NUPP—an acronym for “nearly universal principles of projects”—has helped us achieve better results with less effort. I’ve been using these principles for three years in both my work and personal life, and I’m ready to detail how I’ve implemented these practices for my company’s benefit.
How I Discovered NUPP
Scaling the company meant scaling processes. As we grew past 100 employees, intuitive principles and managerial skills worked—but with a team of over 300 members, communicating mission and goals became challenging.
For months, leaders tracked their time and found that meetings on vision, plans and goals consumed the most resources. It was chaotic, requiring us to frequently explain basic management rules to work effectively. We soon realized the need for unified company-wide principles, and after researching best practices, we settled on NUPP.
Six Foundational Principles Behind Everything
NUPP consists of six nearly universal principles of projects that seamlessly integrate with all key methodologies and approaches, including Scrum, PRINCE2 and PMBOK. I’ve found that these principles not only apply to work processes but to all aspects of life—which I’ll circle back to later.
Importantly, NUPP isn’t a methodology; it’s a foundation for building one. NUPP, Agile and Scrum do not exclude each other; they can coexist and complement each other well.
NUPP is based on principles that are meant to be applied to any project, regardless of type or industry. Agile and Scrum are more commonly used in software development and IT. Along with this, it also easily adapts to any project management methodology. These principles focus on clear business goals and project objectives, which supports concentrating on results.
Let’s explore how this can work for startups looking to increase their efficiency.
1. Prioritize results and truth over habits and affiliations.
Familiar knowledge, frameworks or teams are not always the best options. Yes, they are safe and convenient, but you can lose more than you gain. Don’t stick to one thing; choose the methodology, team and management style for each project to achieve maximum results.
2. Preserve and optimize energy and resources.
Limited resources are one of the key constraints of an early-stage startup. You need to manage project resources and your mental energy wisely while teaching the team to do the same to achieve the desired result.
3. Always be proactive.
A natural reaction of a startup founder is to be reactive, addressing problems and events as they arise. A proactive approach means taking initiative. You anticipate problems and opportunities, plan your actions carefully and develop strategies to maintain a higher level of management.
4. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Details matter. Always maintain a comprehensive perspective of the project, as all its domains interact nonstop, and each demands attention. Pay attention to weak spots; constantly analyze and address them.
5. Never start anything without a clear purpose.
Remember why you’re taking each step in your project. Go deep, identify root causes, make justifications and determine specific benefits. Run every idea, project and task through the “Five Whys” method to stay focused on results and avoid unnecessary details.
6. Use templates for repeatable tasks.
Use checklists, regulations, internal policies, knowledge bases, templates and implementation cycles for recurring tasks to reduce execution time and avoid mistakes.
How To Adapt NUPP In Business Processes: Tips For Startup Founders
NUPP provides a system for improving project management, but the main question is how to scale it across the team. Here are some of my insights:
1. Start implementing NUPP with one project to see how it works in your company, then gradually expand its use.
2. Explain the value of NUPP to your team and provide them with the needed resources.
3. Develop effective communication and prepare concise reports. Use project management (like Trello or Asana) and communication tools (like Slack) to enhance collaboration.
4. Introduce continuous learning. Analyze successes and failures after projects and educate the team based on the results.
5. For flexibility and adaptability, use methodologies like P3.express. Short iterations and frequent reviews help respond quickly to changes.
NUPP As Your Mental Operating System
For early-stage startups, NUPP can offer a universal, flexible project management structure. However, one of the main strengths of these principles is their broad applicability. They are not limited to startup-specific tasks but can be applied to everyday life.
If you view life as a project with needs (physiological, safety, belonging, esteem and self-actualization) and resources (time, money, energy and health) as domains, you can use all of these principles in your life—for example, clear goal setting in organizing personal events or checklists for personal tasks to remember important steps.
Imagine NUPP as the operating system for your mind. Once installed, it can help enhance all aspects of your life, helping you achieve goals, efficiently use resources, proactively manage risks, reduce stress and balance work and personal life. It’s helped me and my organization, and I hope it can help you.
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