That's not a sprint (it's chaos)

You know when you need the whole team to push hard for a few weeks? 

Most founders handle these intense periods completely wrong (and end up wearing their team out in the process.)

A couple of weeks ago, I had Aaron Hovivian on the podcast. Aaron's helped launch dozens of franchise locations as a fractional COO, and he runs three companies himself. 

Aaron lives by sprints: focused bursts where teams rally around a single urgent goal. 

He uses the sprint frameworks in all three of his companies to great effect, but he's also watched dozens of visionaries burn out their teams by turning everything into a sprint.

"Visionaries can plug into sprints pretty easy because their minds chase shiny objects," he told me. "But if everything's always a sprint, you really burn out teams."

Here's what Aaron taught me about running real sprints without wearing out your employees and breaking your business:

Sprints Are 4-6 Weeks, Period 

Not your quarterly rocks, those are too long. Not your daily emergencies, those are just operations. 

A sprint is for things with hard deadlines that can't slip: grand openings, Black Friday campaigns, new market launches. 

Aaron's rule: "If everything's always a sprint, you'll burn out your team. The ones who stick around? They're probably not healthy. Healthy humans need lives outside your vision."

Full Recipes, Not Half-Baked Ideas 

Stop saying "handle this item" without explaining HOW. Aaron calls this giving your team "three ingredients for a twelve-ingredient recipe, then complaining the cookies taste bad." 

Every sprint needs complete instructions, clear ownership, and ONE communication channel. 

Pick Slack, email, or carrier pigeon. It doesn’t matter, just pick ONE place where everything lives.

You Don't Run the Meetings 

"Visionaries can't listen while talking," Aaron says. 

Have someone else (ideally hungry third-tier talent) run your sprint meetings. You stay strategic while they handle tactical. Weekly check-ins during pre-sprint, daily 15-minute huddles during launch week. 

Assign zones: someone owns communications, someone owns inventory, someone owns staffing. 

They don't help everywhere, they OWN their zone.

Take Action

Look at everything you're calling a "sprint" right now. How many are real sprints versus ongoing operations you're treating as emergencies? 

Pick ONE thing that genuinely needs sprint treatment. 

Give it a hard deadline, full instructions, and clear ownership. Run it as a real 4-6 week sprint. 

You’ll see the difference.

Until next week, 

Erik

P.S.. Still running perpetual chaos with deadlines? Join our free Franchise Secrets Facebook Group, and get straight answers from thousands of franchisees and franchisors who've been there and will tell you what actually works.