Articles and guidance on how to use incremental improvement to build a team’s superpowers. Inspect and adapt approaches to being better each day.
Tools and techniques to help run each client project more smoothly and successful than the one before.
There are 36 posts filed in Growing (this is page 2 of 8).
I’ve been working in organisations on delivery challenges for many years now, and seemingly speaking two sets of language without even recognising it.
I’m aware of my strength of translating between user needs and solution focused language, but only recently have I noticed that I also use another form of transation.
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In agency life it’s easy for every brief to arrive stamped urgent. The problem is simple. When everything is top priority, nothing is. In my latest Agency Tactics post I unpack why false urgency burns teams out, dilutes impact, and quietly kills growth.
I share a simple way to sort the real needle‑movers from the nice‑to‑haves. Think clear scoring, hard WIP limits, a visible kill list, and the courage to say no. The goal isn’t to slow down. It’s to channel speed into the few bets that actually move revenue, retention, or runway.
Want the framework, examples, and templates? Read the full post here:
Every project cannot be a top priority
It’s time to share more about my journey. I’m going to move cautiously towards working in the open.
In 2017 I was looking for my next challenge. Having run software agencies and built SaaS tools, my experience even to this day has predominantly been where humans meet technology. It’s a place I know and work well.
I’d also been involved with delivery teams throughout my career. Often leading them and regularly mentoring and supporting individuals.
The needs of the different roles I’d had meant I had become experienced with Agile, certified as a Scrum Master and had worked as a coach and facilitator.
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You sit down at your desk, ready to start the day.
You’ve got six priority tasks lined up from last week.
Just as you’re about to dive in, the notifications hit.
Three people have shared messages about “urgent things” that need to be considered.
Two have been sent to over a dozen team members in a desperate plea for help. One is sent directly to you, although you think the sender could have made more progress first.
You ignore the team-wide messages and fire back a “Can this wait? Or can you progress without me?” to the DM.
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Delivery models get a lot of attention — and fair enough. They set out how teams are organised, who holds responsibility, and how work should move across an agency. Whether it’s centralised pods, distributed squads, or some hybrid mix, the model lays the groundwork.
The problem is, structure on its own doesn’t deliver anything.
What actually drives outcomes is the approach — the day-to-day habits that keep teams aligned, focused, and moving when projects inevitably get messy. It’s the part that’s usually overlooked once the org charts are drawn and the decks are presented.
That’s why I developed what I call Tactical Delivery Habits: a practical, flexible framework that turns any model into something that works on the ground, not just on paper. In this piece, we’ll look at what delivery models do well, where they fall short, and why a tactical approach is the difference between promises made and promises kept.
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