Key Activities in the Business Model Canvas: Choose the Work That Matters

You can finish a day exhausted and still struggle to explain what moved the business forward. There were messages to answer, files to organise and new tools to explore, but an important proposal remains unfinished.

The issue may be how work is prioritised rather than how many hours you put in.

Key activities in the Business Model Canvas identify the work that makes your business model function. Naming those activities helps you protect time for what your customers and revenue depend on.

Start with the promise you have made

Ask what must happen for a customer to receive the value you sell.

For a design studio, that might involve understanding the brief, developing appropriate concepts, producing assets and checking the final work. For a cleaning company, it might involve scheduling, cleaning and quality inspections.

The list changes with the offer. A studio selling custom brand strategy needs different activities from a shop selling ready-made templates, even if both involve design skills.

Avoid copying a generic list from another business. Your activities should explain how your model works.

Include the work that creates and supports sales

Delivery is essential, but it is not the whole business. Customers also need to find you, understand your offer and receive an appropriate response.

A consultant may need regular prospect conversations and useful educational content. An online shop needs product information, a functioning purchase process and order support.

Choose activities that are significant to the model, rather than listing every small task. “Manage client delivery” is a useful heading. Naming every folder you create usually belongs in a procedure, not on the Canvas.

Once you identify the main activities, break them into repeatable steps elsewhere.

A practical example for a video studio

Imagine a studio that promises a monthly set of edited videos. Its key activities could include planning the content, collecting source footage, editing, reviewing, obtaining approvals and delivering the final files.

The owner discovers that editors spend hours requesting missing footage. The studio has treated file collection as informal administration, but the delivery promise depends on it.

A standard upload checklist and a clear submission date could reduce uncertainty before editing begins. The improvement comes from understanding the workflow, not simply asking editors to work faster.

Marketing may reveal a similar dependency. If the studio relies on referrals, maintaining partner relationships deserves planned time rather than occasional attention when sales slow down.

Find the activity that limits the rest

Track where work waits. Is every design awaiting one person's approval? Do projects stall because briefs are incomplete? Are qualified enquiries sitting unanswered?

Improving a less important task may have little effect while that constraint remains. Saving ten minutes on file naming will not resolve a week-long approval delay.

Observe a few real projects before choosing a fix. Separate time spent actively working from time spent waiting. Both affect the customer experience, but they need different responses.

Decide what to simplify, delegate or automate

A documented, repeatable task may be suitable for delegation. A routine status reminder may be suitable for automation. Work involving sensitive judgment may still need a responsible person.

Before adding AI, define the input, expected output and review standard. If nobody can explain what a good result looks like, automation can produce more material without improving the workflow.

The aim is a reliable sequence of useful work. Measure whether the change reduces delays, rework or effort while preserving quality.

Review your last working week

Choose five key activities and compare them with your calendar. Which received time? Which happened only when something became urgent?

Protect one neglected activity this week and remove or reduce one task that does not support the current model. Keep essential administration and obligations covered, even when they are not differentiators.

Read Key Partnerships in the Business Model Canvas to consider which activities need outside support.

If your team is busy but delivery still feels chaotic, [The Little Profit Project](/consulting) can help identify workflow gaps and priorities.

Reference: Strategyzer — Business model building blocks. Examples and exercises are original illustrative applications.