Organizing an Organization

Transom is a creative agency with a fully remote workforce. They offer brand strategy, design, and website development services, as well as website hosting. 

Problem

Transom’s inbound client requests were recorded inconsistently in Transom’s project management software, and there was no overall view of a request’s status. Billing for  ad hoc requests was inconsistent and complex due to weekly and monthly client retainer agreements. The revenue from serving these requests was questionable, and request details would be lost in email, in a slack discussion, or in a project task buried in a team member’s backlog. 

Clients needed their requests connected with the right expert, the experts needed a clear view of the deliverables on their plate, and the agency needed to consistently track and bill for the services its employees provide.

Solution

I created a project that became known as the Support Queue. It was a standalone project in Asana that held all clients' actionable tasks, and it facilitated the development of habits that addressed the needs of all of the system’s stakeholders. 

The Support Queue is a Kanban-style board with 5 columns and clear rules for creating or updating a ticket. All tickets receive the email subject line as the task name, which is then carried into Everhour and eventually onto the client’s invoice, drawing a clear connection between the client’s request for work and their bill. If an email subject said “help!!!” then “help!!! - 2.25 hours” is a line item that they would  see on their invoice.

Much more than the software or the automations that facilitate the support queue, the whole project created a set of habits at the organization level for what to do when an ad-hoc request comes up. Standardizing that process improved Transom’s ability to serve its clients and induced demand from existing clients because they were consistently having a positive experience with the agency.

The average Support Queue ticket was 4 hours of billable time, and was completed in less than a week. At any given time the Queue had between 15 and 20 open tickets, and if a backlog of more than 20 tickets started to develop, it was a signal to the agency’s management to find more resources to serve the client requests we were receiving. 

Impact & Outcomes

The Support Queue grew from handling approximately 50 hours per month of billable client work in January and February of 2022 to an average of 193 hours per month for August, September and October 2022, an almost 200% increase. This growth was in part due to organization-wide adoption of the system, but it was also reflected in August, September and October of 2022 being three of the company’s highest revenue months over a twelve month rolling period. Our client roster didn’t grow by 200%, but their requests and our ability to bill for those requests did because we had a system to track and deliver on their requests. 

After the Queue was adopted by the whole organization, we would complete around ten tickets per week, which drove a consistent stream of revenue for the agency that was separate from project-based work.

The Creative Director’s feedback about the queue was:

Over the past year you have at all times shown that you are up for giving it your all to make this company better, and it is indeed much better for your efforts. To say nothing of the literally thousands of tasks you’ve seen to completion, your creation of systems like the Support Queue, the refinement of our billing system… has shown your wisdom and dedication, and I greatly appreciate them all.

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