Implementing EOS: Reflections from the Workzone CEO

January 01, 2025

In light of ringing in the new year, we’re excited to share reflections from Ash Didwania, Workzone's CEO, on implementing the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) into WorkZone’s operations. After Big Band acquired Workzone in December 2023, Ash and his team dove into building a strong operating rhythm to drive clarity and scalability. From creating a shared vision to refining processes and aligning priorities, EOS has been a game-changer.

What challenges or pain points led your organization to adopt the Entrepreneurial Operating System, and how did you identify EOS as the right solution?

After Big Band’s acquisition of Workzone in December 2023, one of the foundational blocks we wanted to establish was a solid “operating rhythm.” That meant putting in place a core set of guiding principles and processes that govern how the company operates on a day-to-day basis. 

More specifically,

  • A long term vision that employees, customers and partners could feel inspired by

  • An organizational structure with clearly defined roles and responsibilities 

  • A structured approach to ensuring we constantly had the right people in the right seats 

  • Specific measurable goals to pursue in the short, mid and long term

  • Using data to track progress against the goals, assess, and course correct as need be

  • A set of core values that define how individuals show up on a daily basis

  • An approach to identifying and solving issues throughout the organization 

  • An effective way to running meetings, at the leadership and department levels

  • A common set of processes everyone followed to scale the company effectively

As one can imagine that is quite a list! Fortunately, in prep for the CEO role, the Big Band team had recommended the book Traction by Gino Wickman, the creator of EOS. 

Half way into the book, it was clear to me that we couldn’t find a more practical set of tools and frameworks to govern the organization than EOS.

3 months in, we identified an implementer and formally kicked off the EOS program with the Workzone leadership team.

What changes or improvements have you noticed in your organization since implementing EOS? Any success stories?

To say that EOS has transformed Workzone’s operating rhythm, would be an understatement. Three specific changes EOS has enabled for the better are:

  1. Establishing not only a long term vision for the company but specific 10 year, 3 year, 1 year goals. This has enabled us to adopt a long term lens even in day-to-day activities which has led to a more scalable way of doing things 

  2. Getting the organization focused on fewer but clear priorities every quarter through “rocks” - 90 day goals set at an organizational, department and individual level. This has ensured execution remains a constant priority and has eliminated distractions 

  3. Equipping managers with people assessment tools like “get it, want it, capacity to do it” (GWC) that make performance management an objective exercise. Additionally, the framework eliminates the possibility of unconscious bias by standardizing the approach of people related decision making.

How has adopting EOS impacted your leadership team and the way you make strategic decisions?

At a tactical level, the weekly L10 leadership meeting format has made it easier to identify and constantly elevate issues throughout the organization thereby minimizing “problems waiting for solutions.”

On a more strategic note though, the decision making approach itself has become more objective wherein the emphasis is on a combination of three factors: (1) impact of the decision on 90 days rocks (2) alignment with the vision of the company (3) alignment with the company’s core values.

Lastly, EOS has equipped the leadership team with “shared language” that makes it easier to resolve conflicts and align on a common path amidst differing opinions.

For example, we often revert to one of our core values “being customer obsessed “ when dealing with conflicting opinions on product or GTM decisions.

Similarly, when faced with competing priorities, we revert to the 90 days rocks being the guiding light to decide what takes precedence.

Were there any initial challenges during the implementation of EOS, and how did you address them? How has it evolved in the organization?

Like any new initiative, there is always a sense of the unknown in the beginning including healthy skepticism. 

I was personally skeptical of EOS being one of the many other frameworks that appeared theoretically sound but difficult to implement, so the very first step was to get out of my own head and let our implementor, Nick Perold, and the tools do their job.

Subsequently, something like an EOS was entirely new to Workzone which meant it was important to not only communicate the “why, what, how” to the team but do so repeatedly till it all started making practical sense at an individual employee level. EOS itself recommends repeating something seven times for it to truly land, a guiding principle that was effective.

Lastly, the awesomeness of our implementor combined with the fact that EOS rollout includes the entire leadership team from Day 1, made the learning and implementation process a collective exercise, resulting in expedited progress.

Since then, we’ve rolled out EOS to all employees who now use a combination of rocks and company core values to go about their day-to-day. 

Now that you've been using EOS, how do you see it evolving within your organization over the next few years? Are there aspects of EOS that you’ve tailored to better fit your company’s unique needs?

Even though we’ve been running on EOS for 9 months, I believe we’ve barely scratched the surface of its true potential!

The pieces we are most excited about on the EOS evolution journey are:

  • Working backwards from our mid-long term goals (3 years, 10 years) by chipping away through quarterly rocks. Being able to translate vision to execution is a great motivator at Workzone

  • Becoming more consistent with hitting rocks and scorecard benchmarks, thereby optimizing operating rhythm

  • Seeing how our core values hold up over time as the company scales

Speaking of tailoring EOS to our unique needs, a component we’ve gone all in on are core values.

At most companies, core values remain constrained to slideware, but at Workzone we’ve truly tried to make them come to life. We do weekly shoutouts on the All-Hands acknowledging people for exhibiting core values, have a slack channel for real-time shoutouts, and even have a monthly award to appreciate individuals who not only move the needle on rocks but do so by exemplifying our core values. Lastly, every key decision is based on core value’s alignment.

This approach has helped us institutionalize them across all levels and departments of the organization.

In our experience, EOS shines brightest when its core guiding principles, tools and frameworks are combined with the unique traits of an organization - firm enough to let the core components do their job while being flexible enough to nurture the inherent strengths of a company.

EOS has revolutionized how Workzone operates, fostering a culture of focus, alignment, and shared values. With Ash Didwania leading the charge, the team has embraced EOS to work smarter and achieve consistent progress. At Big Band, we aim to support our portfolio companies in implementing EOS because we believe in its results. We look forward to seeing its further success into 2025!


THE PLAYLIST (What We're Watching, Reading, and Listening to)

IRL (Where You Can Find Us)

  • Several members of the Big Band team are preparing to attend the SaaS Academy March Intensive in San Diego. Feel free to reach out if you are planning to attend!

  • In mid-January the Big Band team is convening with portfolio company leaders in Nashville, TN for our annual Leadership Summit.

We’re building our database with the best leaders and operators out there. If you know exceptionally talented people that may one day want to work with us, please have them get in touch with us at [email protected] or fill out the form on our Connect page.

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