For many agencies, project delivery is a rollercoaster. An often chaotic experience. Full of ups and downs. Success for one client and frustration for the next.
You’ve landed on this page, so you’ll likely have experienced it yourself, whether while running an agency, managing agency projects, or as part of a delivery team. And I have too.
You’re not alone
Our experiences are backed up by data. A recent survey of more than 200 agencies showed that five of the top six project management challenges they face were related to project delivery.
- Poorly trained Project Managers
- Attempting to run too many projects
- Poor resource management
- Inconsistency in approach
- …
- Frequent changes to scope
Only 45% of agencies reported that they had a track-record of project success. Less than half. That means all the other agencies who took part ran projects that were challenged or failing.
66% of agencies said they were late with delivery of the majority of projects. The same number, 66%, were often overspending. These two failures are certainly related, but equally surprising.
Based on these results, project success, on-time delivery, and hitting profit targets is for the minority of agencies. But we can improve that.
Learn, Adapt, Measure
These challenges are very personal to your agency. You may excel where another is failing. One solution may be right for your team and not be helpful elsewhere.
Step one is for us to understand what’s going wrong. We’ll review your current project delivery approach. Gathering insights from different team members, while mapping and helping you visualise priorities and potential.
Mapping is a great way to trigger discussion around pain points and challenges. What’s even better is that you can keep the map (in Miro) after the session. We could then return and add to it later, or you could build on it yourself.
Example of beginning to map a delivery approach
While we’re mapping, we’ll touch on some key aspects of delivery approaches.
In my process I use:
- Align – before a project, lay the foundations for project success
- Define – agree what we’re creating and what the priorities are
- Deliver – master the creation, releases and delivery
- Adapt – inspect our ways of working and improve
We’ll touch on the building blocks for consistent success:
- Stakeholder mapping
- Value definition
- Kick-off
- Outcomes or outputs
- Delight
- Retrospection
- … and more
Progress not perfection
Four hours are certainly enough to make a good start. You’ll be able to see the potential for improvement. And see there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’ll likely you’ll have several actionable insights too.
You’ll also take away:
- The approach map or opportunity mapping we create
- A list of challenges and potential focuses
- Insights on how you might approach each of those
- Newly found faith that you can consistently deliver successful client projects
- An excited team, ready to take on the challenge
Ready to book your Delivery Approach Review Session?
Book a 30-minute call and let’s discuss your situation.
Testimonials
Harry’s approach allows agency owners and teams, deep in the trenches of day-to-day project work, to step out for a much-needed bird’s-eye view.
It’s helped me feel confident about delivering client projects consistently and with self-assurance. Highly recommended!
– Frank
I’m currently writing more up. If you’d like details before, then let me know!
FAQ
Can I run it again for the same agency?
It’s an iterative session which you will benefit from repeating regularly. So yes, you could run it again. We can discuss various options.
Does it matter if our agency focuses on Marketing, Design or Software?
Not at all. It’s valuable for any agency which runs projects for clients which have a start, a middle and an end. Especially if the end results in a sign-off. More so if there is knowledge work being done and the ‘What’ is often unclear to begin with.
Book a 30-minute call and let’s discuss your situation.