Summary
- A mismanaged Work Management System (WMS) hampered the client's ability to handle an oncoming spike in workload, which was a risk to new business initiatives.
- A complete overhaul of the WMS was implemented, streamlining workflows, standardizing usage and components, and providing crucial data insights.
- This transformation led to a 30% productivity boost, 24% efficiency gain, and 37% capacity increase.
- Empowered by the new system, the team contributed to the new business initiatives, which successfully drove better customer engagement, improved revenue efficiency, and a remarkable 103% revenue growth.
Problem
The business faced a challenging situation with revenue and customer engagement. While revenue had doubled in the previous year, active customers had only increased by 20%. This led to an unprecedented 67% increase in ARPC, but this was followed by a sharp 66% decline in ARPC in the subsequent cycle.
To address this, the business aimed to improve revenue efficiency by increasing ARPC through expanding TAM, acquiring more engaged customers, and reactivating inactive ones. This involved diversifying and expanding the product offering through product innovation.
However, this strategy also presented a capacity challenge. The anticipated 60-70% product portfolio expansion would increase workload by 50-60% for the marketing team. While a 15% workforce increase was planned, a significant capacity gap of 40% still remained.
Conditions
The WMS, a critical tool for resource planning, was in a state of disarray, hindering the team's ability to bridge the capacity gap. Key issues included:
- Inconsistent data structure and usage practices: This led to unreliable data, time-consuming information retrieval, and user dissatisfaction.
- Lack of common language: Varying definitions for tasks, steps, and effort across individuals and teams made data comparison and analysis difficult.
- Inconsistent order of operations: Different workflows for the same projects depending on project managers, channels, and creatives further complicated data analysis.
- Absence of policies and guidelines: Lack of standardized roles, responsibilities, and work categories led to unreliable data and hindered project comparisons.
- Communication inconsistencies: Diverse communication methods within groups resulted in a lack of a unified project history.
- Time reporting issues: 30% of WMS users lacked time reporting knowledge, leading to inaccurate or missing data.
- Limited project history: Project managers lacked reliable project, milestone, and task histories for accurate effort estimation.
- Missing success metrics: The absence of project success metrics prevented linking effort to business impact.
- Contractor time reporting limitations: Contractors' inability to report time in the system resulted in incomplete capacity data.
Consequences
The WMS's shortcomings had significant negative consequences, including:
- Inefficient capacity planning: The lack of reliable productivity data hindered strategic capacity planning.
- Wasted time and effort: Project managers spent over 5 hours per week managing complex project configurations and troubleshooting task completion issues.
- Inconsistent workflows: Diverse workflows across teams made system integration and automation challenging, leading to missed insights and inefficiencies.
- Illegible reports: Reports tailored to specific teams were often incomprehensible to partners and leadership, limiting visibility into capacity, output, and other metrics.
- Expended excessive effort: Team members wasted valuable time searching for information, navigating complex data structures, and reconciling inconsistencies. Project managers spent over 5 hours per week managing complex project configurations and troubleshooting task completion issues.
- Wasted time: Time was spent searching for assets, validating versions, building new folder structures, and rework due to errors and misunderstandings.
- Slower work: Time was added to every step that required data retrieval, analysis, and reporting. Inconsistent workflows and illegible reports slowed decision-making and project progress.
- Lower throughput: Inaccurate capacity planning and inefficient workflows contributed to missed deadlines and project delays.
- More errors and lower quality: Inconsistent data and terminology led to misunderstandings and errors in project execution. Lack of standardized reporting hindered quality control and performance tracking.
- Poor collaboration: Information silos and communication breakdowns hindered cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Higher costs and lower value: Wasted time, rework, and missed opportunities resulted in higher operational costs and reduced ROI.
- Misallocation of resources: Inaccurate workload and capacity data led to overstaffing or understaffing of initiatives.
- Ineffective prioritization: Confusing and unreliable data skewed project prioritization, hindering efforts on high-impact initiatives.
- Blind spots in workflow optimization: Inability to analyze and compare workflow inefficiencies across teams limited opportunities for improvement and automation.
- Decreased morale and trust: Confusing and unreliable data undermined trust in the system and demotivated users.
- Missed deadlines and delayed projects: Inaccurate capacity planning and inefficient workflows contributed to missed deadlines and project delays.
- Silos of information: Inconsistent data structures and terminology created information silos, hindering cross-team collaboration and knowledge sharing.
- Misalignment and confusion: Diverse workflows and reporting styles led to misunderstandings and communication breakdowns.
- Limited visibility and accountability: Lack of standardized reporting hindered transparency and accountability for individual and team performance.
- Increased operational costs: Wasted time, inefficient workflows, and rework due to errors all contributed to higher operational costs.
- Missed revenue opportunities: Delays in project delivery and inability to capitalize on new opportunities translated to lost revenue and market share.
- Ineffective resource utilization: Inaccurate capacity planning resulted in underutilized resources, leading to higher personnel costs and decreased ROI.
- Internal dissatisfaction: Frustration with the WMS could negatively impact employee morale and engagement.
- External skepticism: Inaccurate and incomplete data presented to stakeholders and partners could erode trust and confidence in the team's capabilities.
- Damaged brand image: Failure to meet deadlines and deliver promised results due to system inefficiencies could negatively impact brand reputation and customer trust.
To address the capacity gap and enable effective resource planning, a comprehensive overhaul of the WMS was necessary. This involved optimizing the data structure for reporting, implementing a new governance plan, and establishing standardized practices for data collection and usage.
Solution
The project's goal was to increase overall capacity and operational efficiency by streamlining workflows, unifying processes, and standardizing practices across three critical business functions. This required merging teams, establishing a shared language, and optimizing tools and content management.
The project followed a structured approach:
- Discovery: Began with gathering project requirements, objectives, and business context; collecting relevant documentation; conducting interviews to understand current workflows and tasks; identifying discrepancies and gaps in information; documenting and validating process descriptions; creating visual representations of the processes; pinpointing key areas of concern and inefficiencies; evaluating risks and costs of the current state; and prioritizing issues using a causation-risk matrix.
- Solution: Developed a comprehensive list of potential solutions; analyzed costs, risks, and feasibility of each option; narrowed options to a group of best-fit solutions; thoroughly investigated best options to determine recommended solution; built and tested models to validate the chosen solution; achieved client approval for the recommended solution; and developed required documentation and governance plans.
- Implementation: Determined project requirements and built a comprehensive plan; assembled an internal project team; reviewed and validated roles and timeline with team and stakeholders; finalized project plan with client; developed and implemented a broad project communications plan; developed troubleshooting and support channels; developed training sessions and finalized supporting documentation; scheduled staggered launches with different teams; carefully monitored and supported each launch; and transferred governance duties to previously identified party.
Improvements
The implemented solution led to significant improvements across various areas:
- Unified team structure: The three teams merged into one, facilitating resource sharing and collaborative planning.
- Standardized language: A shared vocabulary for tasks, steps, and roles improved communication and workflow consistency.
- Streamlined processes: Three separate processes were consolidated into one with variations, enhancing flexibility and efficiency.
- Improved documentation: Comprehensive process documentation and maintenance plans prevented deviations from standards.
- Standardized tools and practices: Content management and development systems were consolidated and streamlined.
- Enhanced analytics: Consistent naming conventions and workflows improved data accuracy and reporting.
- Cross-functional collaboration: Defined roles and standardized channels fostered better communication and teamwork.
- Increased quality and morale: Resource optimization and standardized training led to higher quality outputs and team morale.
- Reduced costs and waste: Fewer freelancers, standardized structures, and optimized workflows lowered operational costs.
Outcomes
The project succeeded in achieving its objectives, delivering substantial improvements in operational efficiency, productivity, and team dynamics. This translated into tangible benefits such as:
- Increased capacity: Streamlined processes and efficient resource allocation increased overall workflow capacity.
- Improved resource utilization: Shared resources and reduced redundancies optimized resource allocation.
- Enhanced collaboration: Unified language and processes fostered better cross-functional cooperation.
- Reduced complexity and waste: Standardized workflows and practices eliminated redundancies and inefficiencies.
- Improved project management: Consistent structures and metrics enabled more accurate forecasting and resource planning.
- Reduced costs: Operational savings through standardized tools, fewer freelancers, and optimized workflows.
- Increased team morale and job satisfaction: Improved collaboration, streamlined processes, and reduced complexity led to a more positive work environment.
Results
As anticipated, the client's business strategy unfolded: the product portfolio grew 69%, leading to a 57% workload increase for their team. Despite their workforce expanding by 20%, this left a potential capacity gap of 37%.
Fortunately, the implemented solutions played a critical role in bridging this gap and exceeding expectations. By achieving the outlined X2 state, we significantly impacted the team's productivity and overall operational efficiency.
Direct Impact on Team Performance:
- Capacity: The team's ability to handle work jumped a remarkable 57%, even exceeding the target and surpassing expectations without compromising quality or turnover rates.
- Efficiency: Streamlined workflows and improved system usability led to a significant reduction in time spent on navigation, searching, communication, and managing projects. This translates to:
- 15-hour decrease in average project completion time, saving a total of 86,295 hours across the year.
- 24% reduction in asset production time.
- Productivity: Increased efficiency directly boosted the team's output. They produced nearly 224,560 final assets, representing an 82% increase from the baseline year, and a 30% increase in per-person annual production rate even after adjusting for the larger workforce.
By enabling the team to exceed capacity demands, the project directly fueled the realization of the S2 strategy, including the crucial 69% product portfolio expansion. This led to increased TAM, customer reactivation, and ultimately, the achievement of the business's V2 OKRs. With twice the engaged customers and a remarkable 103% revenue growth, soaring from $3.75 billion to a staggering $7.6 billion, the impact of the project on the business is undeniable.