Faster focus, less overhead: NCT for Agile Startups

[#1]

When your team is small and priorities change every week, OKRs often feel too heavy. You want focus and alignment, but not the overhead of a rigid framework. That’s where NCT comes in:
Narrative – Commitments – Tasks.

It’s a lightweight structure that helps early-stage teams stay aligned while moving fast.

How it works

Narrative

A short story (3–6 sentences) about what the team is focusing on and why. It sets context and gives everyone the same big picture.

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Example:

This quarter we’re focused on improving user activation. Registrations are growing, but retention is flat because onboarding is too complex. If we simplify the first steps, more users will reach value faster and stick with the product.

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Commitments

Three to five clear directions where the team will spend resources. They should be measurable, realistic, and connected to the narrative.

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Example:

- Increase onboarding completion from 23% to 40%

- Launch an A/B test of the new welcome page

- Run 15 user interviews within 24 hours of signup

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Tasks

Concrete actions that deliver on the commitments. Track them in Jira, but always link each task back to the bigger picture.

Why NCT works for startups

The Narrative creates focus.

Commitments keep things grounded and measurable.

Tasks tie strategy directly to daily execution.

As the team grows beyond product–market fit, NCT may feel too simple. But at the early stage, it often works better than OKRs. Some teams even use it as a bridge—bringing alignment now, and evolving toward OKRs later.

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Has anyone here tried NCT (or a similar lightweight framework) in their Agile teams? How did it compare to OKRs for you?

[Daniel Carter]

NCT sounds really practical for small teams. I like how it connects daily tasks back to a bigger narrative without the overhead of OKRs. Would be interesting to hear real-world examples of teams switching from NCT to OKRs as they scale