Sean Everett explains the Pyramid Depth Framework: start with a clear North Star vision, prototype broad ideas early, then iteratively deepen components so they ladder back to your core vision. Maintain conviction to avoid harmful pivots and build layered foundations that compound over time.
Chilly as hell out here. I guess it's, uh, I guess it's winter, so it makes sense. All right, been through a ton of our content video series so far. We've worked our way up from absolute core foundational principles, and now we're into the final stage, which is building depth. Um, and I first want to start out with a metaphor and a shape that I want you to keep in your mind's eye as you think about these things that you're creating and taking and sharing with the world. So this shape is a pyramid triangle. What this represents is the level of depth that you have. So you have a vision. A product vision, a service vision, a vision of the world we want to live in, vision of a new system structure, etc. And that vision could be, here's what I'm building. Once I create all these things, this is the shape that it's going to look like in its final form. That's one perspective. The other perspective is What is the impact that I'm going to have, the transformation, the achievement that the people who experience this will have in their lives? That's a different vision. Those 2 things together create a really strong bond and foundation, and you can't have one without the other. You got to have both, and they operate like a flywheel, um, together. So back to this triangle concept. What I want you to do is, in the very beginning, there's no way— on the first moment, the first thought, the idea pops into your head— there's absolutely zero way that you can have that full vision now. Maybe in the far future with AI we can create it, but even then, things take time. It's not instantaneous. So what you do with this vision is the top of this triangle, you can go all the way across that full vision, that full experience, etc. It's extremely prototypey, but as quickly as possible you want to get to that full vision. It's very surface level. There's no depth. It's maybe 1, 2, 3 things, or the most minimal, tiniest thing that you can actually think of. Can be a word, a phrase, an image, a paragraph, an idea, a feeling, a song, a beat, something, something that represents that. And really, sometimes it's just explaining that vision, uh, in a concise way. And over time, as you start to work on this and build it out, what you find is that you ratchet down that triangle as you do depth. Which means it's expanding, right? So like every subcomponent ladders back up to that highest vision point to get you to the peak, which is the North Star that you're going towards, right? You always got to keep that North Star in mind. And if that North Star is right, then you can continue on through the depth, down through the pyramid for all time, right? If your North Star is wrong, it's the wrong vector, the wrong direction, the wrong shape. The wrong impact, the wrong product, the wrong service. That's where you hear these folks talk about pivots because they chose incorrectly or they didn't have conviction in what they were doing. And the conviction thing really is a powerful piece because if you truly believe that like this is the way the world will work or should work in the future, then you've got to bring that back to the present moment and create that in the current moment such that you can then reach that far vision, and you take steps along that yellow brick road to reach the promised land, the Emerald City. So as you think about this, so every day, month, year, decade, century, that triangle, that pyramid shape gets bigger and more detailed, more people get involved. Um, more impact. And so at every moment though, you need to have that full breadth, that full end-to-end vision realized. If you don't, then you're on a shaky foundation. People won't see you as that full foundation. People won't see the product or service as that full vision or foundation. And so then it will almost become a lie. So if you only have half of that, then you're just gonna continue to grow that one half and the other half is weak, atrophies, and maybe goes away forever. Which means you may not be able to reach that full product vision because there'll end up being a gap. So all the time you need to have that full end-to-end methodology. Now, at each point you could be working on like one brick in the pyramid over here and another brick over here and another brick here. But then you've got to— if you go down a level of depth, you've got to hit all of those things as well, such that it creates a new layer of the foundation. So as you go down, it expands. There's more depth here, more depth here, more depth here, right? So that's very important as a mindset and as an operating protocol. So that could be various departments in the business, could be various mechanics in your product or service, could be various colorways, right? Could be various features or items in a collection. So that is, that is the first part of level of depth is just having that, having that core mindset and keeping that triangle of that pyramid in place. And so just remember, like in the beginning, you've got to be very clear about that North Star and that vision spec, because then over time as you go through that and you have that conviction, it will get built out, will get stronger, things will compound, and it will be harder and harder to break that strong foundation. Pyramid is a very, um, strong shape in nature. So, um, that's it for today. And just remember, as you start building with depth, don't forget the pyramid structure or the triangle structure. That's it. Thank you. Have a great day. Stay warm out there. It's a little chilly.
