We’re working with two agencies with identical issues: They were struggling with timelines, profitability, and process and system bloat.
Interestingly, they both recently changed to a new project management software and hired a consultant to help them map their processes. When we got in there, we discovered that the processes were bloated. People who weren’t doing the work every day were the ones who had their hands in building out the process. They hadn’t included the team as well; they should have to figure out how long things took and what the handoffs were. Instead, we found that with the consultant’s help, the project management team had created a complicated, bloated, over-layered system and process that frankly meant that from the get-go, every project they bid on came in way over budget compared to everybody else. Number two, there were many steps in there they didn’t need. Number three, they could not get profitable to save their life to get the work done. So, we had to deconstruct and reconstruct their processes to figure out precisely what it took to complete the work.
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Hey, everybody. Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute this week coming to you from Tampa, Florida. Recently, in the last 60 days, we were hired by two different agencies, one on each coast, very different audiences, different sizes, different deliverables. But they were both having the same problem. They were struggling with timelines, with profitability, with process and system bloat. And interestingly, they both had recently changed to a new project management software and hired a consultant to help them map out their processes. When we got in there, what we discovered is the processes were bloated. People who weren't doing the work every day were the ones who had their hands in building out the process. They hadn't really included the team as well as they should have to figure out how long things took and what the handoffs were. And instead what we found was with the consultants help, the project management team had created a complicated, bloated, over-layered system and process that frankly meant that from the get go, every project they bid came in way over budget compared to everybody else. Number two, there were a ton of steps in there they didn't need. Number three, they could not get profitable to save their life to get the work done.
And so what we had to do was we had to deconstruct their processes and reconstruct their processes to figure out exactly what it took to get the work done. We actually challenged both teams, independent of one another, to take 30-50% of the time out of their systems and processes. Now, on the surface, that sounds crazy. It sounds like that would be super dangerous. You'd miss steps, you'd miss quality control. But now 60 days in, what we're finding is quality control is still good. The work is good. Clients are happy. Agency is more profitable. All because we tightened the processes. Processes are important. Don't get me wrong. It is very critical that we have the agency way of doing things and that that is outlined and that people follow it. But we shouldn't follow it blindly. We should be asking ourselves, are all of these steps necessary? Is there a more efficient way to do this? Are there tools that would help us do this more effectively? And are we making our 20% profit or better on projects when we follow this process, system or plan? And if not, then it is worth the time to do that deconstruction and it really challenge yourself. Say, look, if we had to get this done for 30% less, what could we cut out and what would be the cost? And what we're finding in in both cases, recent cases anyway, in both cases is there's no cost. They’re more efficient, more effective getting it through the shop more quickly. Everybody understands what their role is. There's not been a quality control issue, and the agency is back to double digit profitability. So if you have a project management system and if it's been a while since you really did some scrutiny on the systems and processes, and if people are telling you it feels like it's taking too long or it's too hard to get projects through your shop, it might be worth taking a look. All right?
